


Precious Cargo

by gutterfortunecookie



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Birth, Blackmail, Disguise, Dubious Consent, F/M, Fingerfucking, Floor Sex, Fluff, Gen, Heart Attacks, Heavy Angst, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping, Loss of Virginity, Marriage, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Near Death Experiences, On the Run, Possession, Pregnant Sex, Recreational Drug Use, Reunions, Semi-Public Sex, Seperation, Survival, Trauma, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 07:12:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7304629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutterfortunecookie/pseuds/gutterfortunecookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ronan the Accuser lives his new life on the run, living the life he always despised until he finds a bit of cargo with something interesting on the inside...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> Been waiting for months to push this one out...

 

“Sir!”

“What is it, boy?”

“There’s a distress call from the edge of Morag. It’s from one of ours.”

Kraglin, Yondu Udonta’s right man turned to Yondu as the black screen lit up red as proof of one of their ships being destroyed. His teeth set as more red dots appeared on the screen.

“How many of ours?”

“Sir, I…”

“How many?!”

“Ten, sir. All sent out this morning.”

“Get us down there now.”

Yondu sat in his captain’s chair, wrapping his hand around the front right arm but not too close to his recovered toy collection. He looked to the troll doll left by Quill, hoping, praying that it was him that shot down his scouting party. With the Nova Corps finally up and running, Yondu had to reduce himself to going back to his thieving in the Corps’ blind spots. Everything was going back to the way it was before Ronan and the Orb that turned everything into hell for him but he wasn’t worried.

Yondu was on his feet as the thrusters eased the ship to Morag. Only once had they been on the edge of the planet but he thought for a moment that his resources proved successful when supplies were located at the base of the civilization that once was.

He clenched his fists and looked over the lowering platform of his ship as the wreckage of his scouting party was on fire and destroyed. Yondu stood perfectly still and took in the destruction that had taken him years to build. His men ran in every which direction, shouting orders and looking for survivors. His eyes shifted to the blasts in the metal as he set forward into the destruction. He looked around to the split ships and the dead bodies of his men burned into the back of his mind.

Yondu stopped in the middle of the sea of death, knowing very well it wasn’t Quill that slaughtered his men.

“Sir!”

Kraglin ran back with what was a safely kept manuscript.

“Should I put it in the hold, sir?”

“No, I wanna hear.”

He flipped the switch of the manuscript, hearing static at first then the alarms blaring through the valley of metal.

_“Mayday! Mayday! Yondo! We’re taking on fire! Who’s at our doors! Seal them!”_

An explosion rang out from the manuscript as the men yelled back and forth past the blasts.

_“Protect the cargo! Pro…”_

There was a chuckle following the choking of the Captain as Yondu knew whom was on the other side of the destruction.

_“Ravanger scum, I will rid you of your stolen treasures.”_

The manuscript went silent as Yondu threw the machinery into the nearest broken piece of ship and watch it smash to pieces.

“That Kree somabitch! How is he still alive?!”

“There’s a log, sir.”

“Take me to his hold.”

The remaining men raced for the main ship’s deck where he found the body of the captain, curled to the edge of the cage below the captain’s seat used for precious, valuable cargo.

“What was down there?”

Kraglin opened the Captain’s log for Yondo to read in confusion.

“Xandar? Who told them to git to Xandar?!”

“Says here they intercepted a passing shipment headed to our favorite Broker on Xandar. Perhaps we should pay him a visit.”

“Give it time. We’ll git there soon enough. What was in the cage?”

“No, cage, sir.”

“What?”

“No, cage. It was a box. Terrian wood.”

“What the hell is a Xandarian doing with Terrian resources? There ain’t nothing valuable on Terrian!”

“Maybe we should go now and ask our favorite Broker, I guess.”

Yondu knelt to the side of the Captain’s chair and pulled away the piece of weak Terrian wood, inhaling to remember the wooden trail left by Ronan and hid fleet. Yondo stuffed the wooden splinter into his pocket ready to find the cargo the Captain was so keen on protecting.

-

“What is it?! Open it now! That’s an order!”

“Relax, Korath. Your wiring gets the best of you.”

Nebula slapped the back of his head, fixing his temporary glitch and looking to the box everyone was ordered to keep intact. She ignored the several Necros that were busy sorting through the crates of stolen supplies. She stood, disgusted at what they had become. They were just like the Ravangers, stealing to stay alive but they weren’t the ones on the run from Thanos as they failed to take over Xandar and gain possession of the Infinity Stone.

Now they were the one thing they destroyed all with Ronan’s feared blessing. Nebula ran her fingers through her shortened hair she never knew existed. It was freeing and fearful to be free of Thanos but she knew the only way to be free was through death.

“Glad to know you can all follow orders for once. Report.”

“No survivors, sir. Most carts level 3 and below were left.”

“And this was heavily protected in the Captain’s cage. Strange crafting. One would have though a Captain’s cargo to be built with reinforcements.”

Nebula turned her head to a sound only her ear could pick up. Ronan took notice of her as he ordered his Necros to surround the box.

“What is it? A bomb? A trap?”

“Something’s in there.”

“Of course, something’s in there.”

“No, sir.”

She waved her hand and let the Necros open the weakest side of the box. The wood splintered and snapped as Ronan and the rest of the crew looked inside the towering box. There was some metal that reinforced the box from the base up to the top. At the top, near the middle were chains that hang down with a person attached, hanging and unconscious as the smell of her nearly sickened Ronan. Blood was only just drying on her head, blending perfectly with her darkened curls and her musty, loose clothes. There was bruising in her face, meaning she was abducted, possibly by the Ravangers.

“Disgusting. Is this a jest?!”

“The box wasn’t open, Sir.”

It was true. He was the first one to spot the Captain lowering the box into the protective area below the deck. He remembered the victory and pride rolling through his veins as he watched the weaken box moved from the deck to his ship.

Nebula stepped into the box, careful of the sack that was placed next to her.

“Wake her and question her.”

“We can’t.”

“Are you refusing an order?”

He looked to the young woman’s blood swiped on Nebula’s arm band as she looked up in what Ronan deduced was worry.

“She won’t survive; she doesn’t have much time. Her blood is tainted.”

He was growing close to a decision to dispose of her as her moan made his head turn. She woke, opening her unswollen eye, kicking Nebula square in the jaw as the force broke the chains. The woman got to her feet and ran straight into Ronan as he was knocked off his feet.

“Stop her!”

“Nana! Nana!”

Her voice rang out through the ship as Ronan got to his feet and raced after her. She tripped and tumbled to the edge of the hanger as she failed to grab the metal. A loud ping filled his ears as Ronan came to a halt. He looked over the edge to the young woman, still but breathing as the ship below saved her from her death.

Nebula ran and jumped safely to the woman as she cradled her and felt her jaw shift back into place. Ronan let his curiosity decide the woman’s fate as he looked down to her.

“Get her to the Healers now before she succumbs. We’ll need her alive for now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nebula leapt safely to the landing below, carrying the young woman in the direction of the Healers. Ronan turned back for the wooden box, inspecting it inside and out, wondering what a human was doing in the possession of Ravangers.

“A whore for their ranks.”

A soft melody stopped him in his tracks as he turned and watched Korath with a small bit of machinery in his large hand. The man looked in wonder to the open metal box as a small figure in a dress spun slowly to the music.

“Are you sure, sir?”

Ronan snatched the things away and tossed it back into the woman’s sack, glad there to be no stench in the stitches. He walked away from the empty box as the putrid smell of her, the Terrian slowly disappeared into the smell of the Necros, wanting a turn to look into the box that the woman had survived in. Ronan kept his eyes forward and his head focused, with only his mind following the woman as her fleeing shape was burned into the back of his mind.

Nebula sat on the bed, straddling the woman as she slept, she pulled the knife from her belt and made a small cut here and there to drain the loose blood from underneath her skin. She was careful in her incisions, bringing fear into the healers that didn’t know what to do about the swelling of her face. Her steady blue hand washed the drained blood away, leaving the woman’s face clean. The woman moaned in her sleep, from the pain and the used medicine the healer’s gave her as they had started to clean her.

Nebula stayed by and watched over the healers, already to prideful to touch a Terrian, let alone clean her. She made sure no harm came to the woman as she was finally placed in one of the larger cells in the prisons. Nebula stayed straddled on the woman, thinking of every possible thing to ask her.

“Who are you?”

She sat for hours, watching the woman.

“K…”

Nebula woke as the woman tried to speak.

“What is it?”

“Ka…”

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Katja.”

The woman fell back to sleep as Nebula rolled her eyes.

“Well, Katja. You’re alive now and that’s all that matters.”

Ronan watched from the shadows as the newly clean woman brought a smile to his face. He marched away to his chambers, knowing in the morning she would be awake and he would find out what was so special about her…


	2. The Cave

 

It was a dream, it all had to be a dream. She refused to believe in anything else.

_She coughed into her hand as her Nana threw her head back in laughter._

_“Girl, have you never heard of puff, puff, pass? I thought you said you were experienced?”_

_“Fuck you, old woman…”_

_“Look, Katty. You don’t have to leave, you know?”_

_“Please, they’re gonna shit a brick when they find out I got fired.”_

_She was smiling from the joint but knew deep down how fucked she’d be when she lost another job with this time not actually being her fault._

_“Over a picture that was in your closed bag. Fired over a pair of tits,” the old woman scoffed as she inhaled the smoke of her ‘medical supplements’, “I was fired for more than that. Everyone’s wanting to get offended so easily, fuckers.”_

_Katja took the smoke from her Nana’s hand, taking a drag for herself as she looked around to her old woman’s apartment._

_“Seriously, move in. First year rent free ‘til you get back on your feet.”_

_“I’m not gonna be a fucking waitress again.”_

_“Better not, sell your drawings for money. You’re talented. Just smoke with me the first few days and leave your damn mother to me.”_

_“You’re okay with this?”_

_“Honey, if you had come live with me when you were five, I would have had you in classes and you would have given Monet a run for his money.”_

_“You’re not the 26-year-old loser still living with her parents and brother with 300 dollars to her name.”_

_Katja ran her fingers through the purple streaks in her hair. They would fade soon and with it her future but it was calming to her to have a single lifeline drawn out for her. She played with the tassels on her loose dress, wondering what she was going to do with herself._

_“Katja Harding, I’m only gonna tell you this once. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and use some of that money and get us dinner! Fucking starving!”_

_Katja laughed until her sides hurt, making her tumble to the floor. She snatched the small joint from her Nana’s lips and winked in her direction as she stumbled into a pair of jeans and boots._

_“You want anything specific?”_

_“Anything I can digest.”_

_“Cool,” she whispered as she tied her long, feral hair up and slid on her hand-me-down leather jacket._

_“Katja!”_

_“Yeah?”_

_She looked to her Nana as she moved to get comfortable in her wheelchair._

_“Don’t worry ‘cause every little thing is gonna be alright.”_

_“Okay, Marley. Don’t smoke anything else ‘til I get back.”_

_Her Nana grabbed her hand and pulled her down, kissing her head as Katja hugged her back._

_“I’m so proud of you, you little spitfuck.”_

_Katja smiled and looked over her shoulder to her Nana, knowing things were going to be alright. She closed the door behind her and started her journey to the various take-out places on the next street._

_“Yeah, can I get five orders of steam dumplings, fuck…”_

_She rubbed her eyes as her hunger impaired her judgement of what she wanted to eat._

_“Do you guys have those little sugar donut things?”_

_“Yes, right here,” said the cashier as she pointed it out on the menu._

_“Excellent. Two of those, no, three, three and two big things of Egg drop soup. That’ll be it.”_

_“Fifteen minutes. Drink?”_

_“No, thank you. I have vodka.”_

_Katja waited and listened to the city outside. She pulled her jacket closer together as the fall breeze seeped into the restaurant. Soon, she would need to look for another job and provide for herself. Her Nana’s cancer was spreading and she was refusing treatment, accepting death but Katja would take what time she had with her and follow her wishes. She had meant to sell her work for a while and with a push from her Nana, she would finally get her head out of her ass and make the life for herself that Katja always wanted. The news would find its way to her parents but her Nana had muscle to help her move if her step father got involved._

_“This can’t be fucking living,” she whispered to herself._

_She held her head in her hands, surely smudging her makeup as she pushed out the simple life her mother wanted for her, knowing there was more to life than what was already in front of her._

_“Miss?”_

_The cashier stood in front of her, holding her food as she smiled._

_“Sorry, thanks. Have a good night.”_

_She made her way back with takeout, meatball subs and desserts from the closing Italian restaurant about ten minutes from the apartment. Katja knew she was splurging but it would be all be in celebration. She juggled all the food in her arms as she searched for her keys and kicked the door._

_“Hey! Let me draw you like one of my French girls, Jack!”_

_She chuckled to herself, pushing the door open and kicking it closed as she turned, seeing her Nana lifeless on the floor._

_“Nana?”_

_All the food dropped from her hands as she ran to her in tears._

_“No, no, no…”_

_She checked for a pulse, feeling nothing as she reached for her phone to call for help._

_“911. What’s your emergency?”_

_“Please, help me! My Nana isn’t breathing! I don’t know what to do! I need…”_

_The phone dropped from her ear as the operator called out for her. She turned her to her back and tried to keep her heart pumping until help came._

_“Don’t die, Jackie. Don’t you fucking die on me now!”_

_Her Nana seized underneath her as the EMTs arrived and pulled her away._

_“Ma’am, are you riding with us?”_

_Katja shook her head and grabbed her messenger bag, filling it with whatever she could grab. She stuffed all of her Nana’s reefer into the side pouch of her bag and the medical note, allowing it, knowing Jackie would want a hit when she woke. She also grabbed the music box, constantly at her Nana’s side as one of her most prized possessions as she stuffed the dumplings into her bag. She ran after the ambulance as she stopped in her tracks and turned around._

_“Wait,” she called after them, “I need to get the keys!”_

_“You have one minute before we leave!”_

_She looked to her phone as it rang. Katja knew it was her mother looking for her but she would tell her when she got to the hospital. She raced for the keys on the floor mixed with the egg drop soup as she locked the door behind her and ran for the closing ambulance doors._

_“Hey!”_

_“I’m sorry!”_

_She changed her direction and ran through the playground to try and stop the ambulance before it left the apartments’ parking lot._

_“Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare!”_

_The bag bounced on her side as she ran as fast as her boots could carry her. She stopped at the entrance as she started forward, waving her hands in the air. She didn’t care if she would be run over as long as she was with her Nana. A pair of arms pulled her from her feet and dragged her into the shadows as Katja kicked and screamed into the stranger’s hand._

_“Lookie, boys. We found ourselves a little lost soul!”_

_Katja opened her mouth and sank her teeth into the stranger’s hand despite the roughness of his skin and his blood on her tongue. He cried out and let her go as she turned and was face to face with what looked like someone in a formfitting mask. She swung her hand, scratching the man as she set off from the alley and after the ambulance that had just passed. She ran as it stopped, making the light green. Katja reached out her hand, almost slamming into the back of the ambulance until she was shot in the back by something close to an electric shook._

_Through the pain, she looked up to the ambulance that turned onto the highway towards the hospital._

_“Nana!”_

She opened her eyes and gasped for breath as tears fell from her eyes. The sounds of gasps got her attention as she tried to talk. She turned her body and slowly made her way from the bed.

“Where am I?”

She knew they were all women, terrified of her as she turned to the open cell door and ran. Katja stayed to the shadows and tried to make sense of where she was. The walls were hard under her knuckles as she stumbled on her feet. She saw she was no longer wearing her clothes and that was the moment she remembered being pulled into the alley.

“Oh fuck…”

She rubbed her head, needing some kind of relief from her massive headache and her roaring stomach.

“There! Check there!”

Katja panicked, moving as tightly to the shadows as she could as she felt the wall behind her move. She held open the passage as she hid herself behind the door. Her eyes moved around to the horrifically strange bodies that stormed the hall with guns in their hands. Her Taser was somewhere in her bag that she didn’t see at her side when she woke. She never went anywhere without her bag, always ready to be prepared at a moment’s notice and she was never truly one without it.

“Find her!”

She wasn’t scared at the booming voice that filled the hall and her ears. The image of a tall, blue man almost amazed her as he stopped in the middle of the hall and shouted orders to everyone else. She turned her head to try and look into his eyes, not realizing it would get her caught. Ronan huffed his breath and looked in every direction for the Terrian. The ship was large enough but there were only so many places that she could hide. She was still weak from her forced travels and he would find her in no time.

Katja watched as the man pulled her bag over his shoulder as she wiped off her sweating palms. Her months of foster care would pay off if she could have her only worldly possessions close to again as she quietly moved from her hiding place. Ronan could still hear the ship settling into the deep of space as a slow, steady sound filled his ear.

He turned his head at the last second, seeing the buckle from the bag falling over his shoulder. He reached down to grab the buckle from the floor, only to lock eyes with the unafraid Terrian.

“Hello there,” he purred.

Katja kicked her bare foot up and knocked Ronan to the ground as she darted for the secret door. Ronan leapt after her as the door safely shut her away from his pounding fists.

“She’s in the passages! Find her!”

Katja ignored the pounding on the other side of the passage as she found her flashlight at the bottom of her bag and lit the way away from the creaking stone behind her. Ronan lifted his foot past the Necros that were trying to open the door as his strength broke the door from the wall, running into the darkness for the woman. Katja ran as far as she could, hearing the growing footsteps behind her. Ronan raced through the tunnels, following the woman’s cleaner scent as he collided with other Necros that had entered through a separate passage way.

“Get up and find her now!”

Katja waited above the group as they disappeared, cursing to herself and needing to pee as she pressed her arms and her back to the narrow passage to keep herself hidden above. Lucky for her that her Nana allowed her to climb the walls of her home whenever she visited. She slowly made her way down the walls and relieved herself in a small corner, knowing the smell would make them find her faster. She set off in a different direction as each turned corner led her deeper and deeper into the dark maze ahead of her.

Ronan paced into the main hall of the ship, accessing the schematics of each level and filtering out anyone with pure oxygen in their blood. He grinned at the glowing spot stumbling into the bottom level of the ship’s hanger. He raised the com and smiled.

“Terrian. I know you can hear me.”

Katja rested against the nearest ship, trying not to get sick on herself as the voice above her failed to reach her ears.

“Katja…”

“The fuck?”

She pushed herself up and wondered around the ships as her name echoed the high, metal walls.

“Behind you.”

She turned and looked up each of the levels until she met eyes with Ronan, glaring to him as she flipped him off.

“Take me home!”

“You are in no way ready to negotiate with me, Terrian.”

“Fuck you!”

He smiled down to the swaying woman as she attempted to appear strong. Katja watched as he reached into his pocket for something white that she couldn’t see. Tears formed in her eyes as the music from her Nana’s small music box played over the comms.

“Grab her.”

Katja tried to fight, keeping her eyes on the music box in his blue curling fingers as she let herself be dragged through the ship. Her only thought was to cooperate so that the box would be safe.

“Fine! Fine!”

The Necros pushed her into the elevator, moving up to the command room where Ronan was waiting. She looked to his hand, hearing the music box crash in his grip as the breath was taken from her chest. Her feet stopped only for the crew to push her along to him as she secretly reached in her bag. Ronan was more than satisfied at the tears streaming down Katja’s face as he let the machinery fall from his fingers. The glare in her eyes made him feel accomplished as he laughed in her face.

“Now that I have your attention…”

Katja wrapped her fingers around the grip of her baton as she pulled it from her bag and snapped it open. She screamed, bringing the hard metal down across Ronan’s knee as he cried out. She turned and knocked out the two creatures that tried to grab for her.

“Vile witc…”

He had only gotten to his good knee when a rift of electricity pulse from his neck all the way down to his feet. Katja could feel his body flail from the simple touch of her Taser. She dropped it and pounced on Ronan as she brought her closed fist on his jaw.

“You son of a bitch!”

She screamed as she punched and struck Ronan again and again until she was pulled away by the creatures. Ronan let himself heal slowly as he looked to the shrieking, feral woman as she tried to break free of his men’s hold.

“Stop!”

Katja stopped for a moment, pushing herself away as she did her best to control her actions and not throw herself at the tall stranger again. Ronan was oddly amazed at how the Terrian woman trembled in pure fury. He reached into the back of his tunic and opened his hand to her music box, still intact as the first was a decoy. Katja trembled worse as she took a step forward, testing her stranger’s limits.

“Run and hide again and I will make sure you never see the light of day.”

Katja only shook her head, snatching the music box away as she tucked it into her bag. She was more than tempted to lash out as Ronan towered over her.

“You are obviously not afraid of me but while you are on my ship, you will follow my word.”

“You haven’t earned that right. Wait… Ship?”

She looked over her shoulder, needing something to make sense as she looked back to Ronan.

“Where are we, the Atlantic?”

“The moons of Vanaheim.”

“What?”

Ronan snapped his fingers as the metal shutters opened behind him. Katja clutched her bag as she looked over his shoulder to the three moons that lined up for Vanaheim’s solstice. He knew he had won when she dropped to her knees, weak from her attempted escape in a sealed ship.

“Ronan. The chambers are ready.”

“Good, take her,” he sighed as Katja passed out in the middle of the control room.

Nebula lifted Katja into her arms with her bag and carried her away towards the prepared room that was to be her quarters for the time being. Ronan pushed his nose back into place, hiding the pain on his face away from the faces of his crew. He was breathless for a moment, thinking that his rouse to draw her out wouldn’t work. He didn’t expect for her to access the recesses of her sack to disable him. It was more than embarrassing as he was pummeled by a woman, let alone a Terrian. He was wrong to underestimate her just as he did with Star-Lord.

He sat on his chair, over-looking the scattering crew below him as he looked down to the chosen panel, looking in on Katja’s room as Nebula put her weakened body under the sheets and accessed her wounds.

He ran his thumb across his split lip and smiled to himself as the next she would wake would be the start of a long journey ahead, far, far away from Terra.


	3. Candles

 

She looked to the rotting dumplings on the side table, waiting to be thrown out by the hooded women eyeing her in the door way.

“Can I have my clothes back?”

“They’ve been incinerated. The blood you swallowed as from an ancient line coming from the eldest of assassins designed to kill in any way possible, even bodily fluids meaning that your clothes were infected.”

“So, what someone was sent to kill me?”

“No. That way of life ceased when they began inbreeding and poaching.”

“Why me?”

“Slavery is common in every corner of the Galaxy. Try not to seem so special.”

“So what’s going to happen to me now?”

“You’re staying on this ship.”

Ronan approached, replenished after his night’s rest. He braced himself against the doorway, scaring away the women and looking in on Katja as she sat on the edge of her bed.

“As what?”

“Come.”

“No.”

Katja brought her knees up to her chest, wishing she had taken a bad batch of drugs instead of what she was experiencing now. Ronan held out his hand to her only for her to push it away as she got to her feet, well out of his reach.

“I’m not your fucking girlfriend, Blue Man Group. You don’t get to touch me.”

“Fine. In exchange for what you remember up to your capture.”

Katja huffed her breath and gave a fake smile.

“I was running.

“After what.”

“My Nana wasn’t breathing, she was unresponsive. Fuck, it was my fault…”

Her chest began to slow as Ronan rolled his eyes, snapping to attention as she Katja turned and walked away.

“Where are you going?!”

“I need fresh air,” she yelled over her shoulder.

Ronan followed her hall after hall as she broke out into a run until she ended back on the lowest level of the ship’s hanger. Ronan watched from a higher level as she curled into a ball and hyperventilated. He shook his head.

“Korath, retrieve her. I need to keep her locked down for her own protection.”

“Yes, s-s-ssir.”

Ronan slapped the back of Korath’s head where the machinery was still messing up. He flinched for a moment as he reset and saluted Ronan.

“Sir.”

“Get her and take her to her room. Report to me when you are done.”

Korath looked to the woman, spotting his target as he jumped down to the ground level. Katja let her tears fall as she held herself close. The nightgown she had been dressed in made her crawl in her own skin but there was no use in trying to get rid of it when all of her previous clothes were burned for her protection or so they said.

Katja ignored the sounds of the machine man trying to find her as she reached into her bag for her iPod and headphones. With everything she was taking out of her bag, she was sure to give the man another reason to try and make her comply. She turned the volume up to high as closed her eyes and tried to will the world away. Her hands pushed the padded earpieces closer, giving her a temporary paradise before she was found again. Korath listened closely to the hanger as a foreign melody gave the woman away.

He made his way through the maze to still unusable scouting ships that came with the grand craft that they stole. Korath stopped, finding Katja half asleep with her bag under her head as he roared. Katja jumped at the sound of the man with wires sticking out of his head as he began to charge for her. She was prepared as she reached under her dress and pulled out her Taser. She rolled out of his way and shot to her feet as she electrocuted the back of his neck.

Ronan grinned to the sound of Korath’s war cry ringing within his earshot as he turned and set forth back for Katja’s room.

The Taser dropped from Katja’s hand as the man seized and sparked electricity, falling to the ground in smoke. For a moment, she wasn’t sure whether to call for help or run away as smoke raised from his body. She jumped as Korath gasped for breath and pushed himself to his knees.

“That was it…”

“What?”

Korath turned with a relieved smile to his face as he waved the smoke coming from the top wiring of his head.

“Ever since Quill tore the wiring from the cerebral cortex, the shortages in my head have been causing outburst, internally and physically. Thank you.”

Katja sat in her corner, unsure of how to talk to him.

“Uh, you’re welcome. What do I call you?”

“Korath, Ronan’s bodyguard. What name do I call you?”

“Katja. What’s Ronan?”

“You have met him; this is his ship.”

“You mean Violet Beauregard?”

“Who?”

“Never mind.”

“Can you do it again?”

“Not unless you’re gonna attack me again. Besides, I need to save the battery.”

“I understand. May I come to you again if my wiring messes.”

“I’m not an engineer.”

“What are you?”

“A failure,” she snickered as she reached into the side of her bag, no longer seeing the man across from her as a threat.

Ronan waited until the shadows from the moon filled Katja’s room in darkness.

“Where is he?”

He got to his feet and stormed from the room as the crew wisely moved out of his way. He made the ground floor, listening closely to the laughter raising over the tethered ships around him.

“Hold it in!”

Ronan turned, marching after the noise and the potent smell from the corner of the hanger. Smoke got his attention for the slightest moment as he turned the corner and watched as smoke seeped from the sides of Korath’s ears.

“You can let it go now. I don’t need you dying, man.”

“I can’t,” Korath chuckled as he buried his face into the side of one of the ships.

“Extra lung?”

“No, it circulates without the need to release.”

“You aliens as weird. Oh, fuck. I was abducted by aliens. You guys aren’t gonna probe me, are you?”

Korath roared in laughter as he braced himself and caught sight of Ronan.

“Sir, I found her! She is a very wise companion.”

“You were supposed to bring her hours ago!”

“Oh, I forgot. No, I didn’t forget. Did I?”

“I don’t know but he seems pretty pissed off.”

“Does he? He never changes color…”

Katja and Korath laughed in Ronan’s direction as he marched forward, grabbing hold of Katja.

“What did you do to him? He was a disciplined warrior.”

“Chill out, man. He’s just high. It’ll wear off.”

His eyes followed the small bit of rolled paper between Katja’s fingers as she took a drag and held her breath.

“What is that for?”

“My anxiety. I get really nervous in large crowds.”

“You sure can run from them!”

“I’m faster with my boots, too bad they’re gone.”

“They’re not gone. Ronan has them stored.”

“Korath!”

“What? That’s shitty and hurt my feelings, Ronan,” she giggled, “Why am I being sent to my room? Was I a bad girl, daddy?”

“Contain yourself!”

“Jesus! Chill out,” she snapped as she jerked her arm back and placed the joint between her lips.

“Let’s go.”

“I’m not done here. You know, you’re lucky your cute or else I would have knocked you jaw off.”

“I believe he likes you as well. He aided in your capture the other day.”

“Korath…

“He would have just had us do the work but he was insistent that you were to stay in his custody. You must be something special to be under his protection.”

Ronan knew if his skin was any lighter, a blush would have revealed itself, giving himself away to Katja.

“Do something for me and I’ll go back with you.”

“No.”

“That seems fair enough, Captain. I’m not exactly supposed to be here, snatched up and everything.”

There was a moment of pity and uncertainty as Katja stepped forward to Ronan. He stood his ground as she pulled the now smaller bit of paper from between her lips.

“Gimme a kiss, pretty boy. Then, I’ll go back.”

“No.”

“Then, no.”

“Look here, mortal!”

Ronan jerked Katja’s jaw up, striking no fear in her as her dilated pupils looked back. Her skin was smooth on the tips of his fingers as his thumb moved across her chin sluggishly. He could feel himself being drawn to her for a reason unknown to him.

“Yes?”

He was motionless, petrified as Katja reached up for the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. His heart stopped as he felt her pushed the smoke from her mouth to his. Ronan inhaled, choking on the smoke as he lurched over and gasped for breath.

“You poisoned me!”

“You didn’t inhale enough, stupid and it’s not poisoned. I’ve been smoking this stuff for years.”

Ronan looked up in anger to scold her as she drew in more smoke and pressed her lips more firmly to his as they crashed into the nearest wall. He inhaled more this time, tasting the herbed smoke and her as his hand drifted to the side of her nightgown. There was some shame in him as a Kree would never lay their hands upon a woman that wasn’t their mate.

Ronan had wanted to stay true to what others called frantic and other called tradition but he was in no position to argue how this simple abomination was something he never knew he craved for. Katja knew she had smoked her single joint too quickly out of stress as her impaired judgement allowed Ronan to hold her close. It had been so long since someone had touched her in such an innocent and intimate way.

The twinkle of her Nana’s music box filled her ears as she turned to Korath mesmerized by the twirling ballerina.

“Such beauty,” he whispered as he turned the crack underneath to keep the song going.

Memories came flooding back to Katja the day she was taken as she felt the fear of finding her Nana on the floor and the hands that tried to pull her into the alley. Her own voice rang in her ears as the last thing she remembered was her calling out for the ambulance to stop. Ronan blinked, watching Katja’s expressions change drastically as she raced for her things and tossed them back into her bag.

“I need to go home.”

Ronan’s head spun from the kiss and the flavored smoke as he smiled.

“No.”

He was still there but he felt… honest.

“Land the ship. Use fucking wrap speed or something.”

“I can’t.”

“It’s your ship.”

“The direction of your home is also the direction of something we have no interest in meeting once its caught up to us.”

“You have to take me back! I need to see her!”

Ronan stooped down to her level, knowing he had won.

“Whomever you left on earth is now at the consequence of your departure.”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“If you had only been with her, then you wouldn’t have been caught and you would not be here now as you are. If you want, I can put you in one of the pods but I have no time to show you the controls and you will surely be dead within days without my help.”

“Turn this ship around.”

“You have nothing I want to sway me.”

Katja dropped her bag to the floor as she hid her head in her hands, sobbing clearly as Korath stayed silent.

“You monster…”

“Kree and I will not be manipulated into the arms of a Terrian tramp. Now, let’s go.”

Katja stood her ground, unable to move from her grief as Korath gathered her things and led her forward. Ronan was stunned that Korath wasn’t shorting or stuttering his words as he turned his head down and whispered into Katja’s ear. The act was a simple gesture that made Ronan uncomfortable, knowing he added her to pain.

He didn’t understand one of his own helped Katja to her bed and lit a single candle, all to ease her as she sobbed into her pillow. The flick of light caught on the edge of the music box as the small tune was heard. Katja’s tears also glistened in the candle light as Korath stayed by her side. This alien, this stranger stayed by her side, sitting on the floor as he held her hand and helped her let out her tears until she fell asleep.

Ronan wanted to but could feel no victory as he sat in the shadows outside Katja’s door with the sound of the music box to haunt his concrete decision to stay on course.

-

Katja was silent for days, unattached from the world around her and her bag for once as she roamed the halls with either Korath or Nebula by her side. She wanted to grieve more but felt that she used all of her allotted tears for her Nana she was sure was gone. Her phone, however, stayed glued to her hand as a distraction as she stared for hours to the picture of her and her Nana celebrating Halloween with candy and jello shots.

Katja continued to look back, thinking if there was anything she could have done to keep Jackie alive for just another few days but it was no use. Jackie accepted her death long before it happened and now Katja was all alone.

Ronan finished his meal, glad to see that Katja was at least touching her food as her eyes were glued to the dimmed screen in her hand. There was a faint twitch in her eyes as the screen turned to black. She turned her wrist and calmly placed it next to her as she went back to her food.

“What is wrong?”

“Nothing,” she whispered.

“Speak. Up,” he ordered.

“Nothing that you can do.”

“Katja.”

She swallowed the spoonful of soup and the lump in her throat as she looked up to Ronan.

“My phone died and I’m sure you don’t have an electrical outlet on your ship.”

Ronan seized the opportunity and wiped his mouth as he got to his feet, walking to Katja’s end of the grand table. He grabbed her phone in plain sight as he left Katja by herself.

“Hey.”

He was already gone but it didn’t stop herself from getting up and following Ronan throughout the ship.

“Hey!”

Ronan ignored her and letting her cries for him go unnoticed. Katja was in no mood for him as she decided him to be the villain of the ship. She picked up the bottom of the nightgown and raced after him as he stopped in the middle of the sea of busy crewmen as he held the phone up to a small beam of green light.

“Please, stop! I’m sorry!”

Ronan held up his hand to her as she waited for what seemed like forever as her phone chimed back to life.

“What do you need?”

“What?”

He kept his voice steady and his eyes locked to hers as he looked to the dress.

“What do you need?”

“I want something else to wear. Either give me something else or give me my clothes back.”

“I will arrange something,” he mused as he pulled the phone from the light and pressed it in her hand, “in exchange, I need you distracted. You are not to go anywhere without my guards or myself. The Necros are stern but can act on pure instinct and I don’t need a dead body stenching up my ship. Are we at an understanding?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes,” he corrected.

“Yeah.”

“Yes! You will speak proper on my ship.”

“Yes, fine, okay! Fuck! Just don’t touch me anymore!”

“Why?”

“I have a thing with people touching me. Don’t make it so personal!”

She turned for Nebula waiting at the door for her until she stopped and turned back to Ronan.

“Thank you. For the phone. I don’t have another picture of her.”

“I guess I’m not such a monster after all.”

 _We’ll see_ , she thought to herself, thankful to have a fully charge phone in her possession.

Katja didn’t bother looking back to Ronan to give him the satisfaction of her showing some other emotion beside sarcasm or anger. She followed the pixie cut belonging to Nebula as she was safely led back to her room.

“Give it time for other clothing to be brought to you.”

“Am I ever going to see my clothes again?”

“After it’s been properly sanitized. From the stench, you were in capture for a good few days.”

Katja ran her fingers over the healing cuts on her face. They weren’t bad people but they were still guilty of something she didn’t want to find out.

“I’m never going home.”

“No, I’m sorry.”

Nebula was surprised at the words coming from her mouth.

“No, you’re not. You’re wired just like Korath. You have orders to follow but thanks for trying to think about me.”

Katja wasn’t wrong and there was no reason to try and argue with her.

Ronan shut himself away from the rest of the crew for a moment as he gripped the side of the piping in the hidden wall where he sometimes slept. Katja wasn’t on the ship for long and was already having a major impact on him and the prideful way he was trying to build for his character. He would never be able to go back fully to his people’s ways as he pulled the musty shirt to his nose, inhaling Katja’s scent and the herb scent of her smoke.

Memories came back to him, impaling him in the chest as he remembered her so close to him, sharing her smoke with him and feeling the smoothness of her skin. He groaned, hidden beautifully by the noises of the ships as he hunched over and rubbed at the front of his trousers. His mind had never been so focused to one person before as he tried to push her image away but all he could see was her.

Ronan pushed his hand down the front of his trousers, letting Katja’s fury blind him. She was as fierce as any warrior he had seen but she was still blinded with the guilt of loss and slowly easing shock. He moaned into the sleeve of his coat, shifting his hips into his hand as his breath warmed his skin. He would have been filled with disgust if not for the punishing strikes to his body, leaving him wanting for more.

He groaned able to pull himself out, pointing his seed away from his clothes to make sure it wouldn’t stain his skin. His teeth sank into his bottom chaffing lips, threaten to break skin again as he panted into his arms. He wiped the sweat from his head, running his fingers though the hair his kind never allowed for religious purposes. He licked his lips, needing only a bit more but it was not fair to force himself to someone that looked in the other direction.

No matter his eyes opened or closed, he would always see the carefree Terrian woman and he didn’t want it to end.


	4. Addictive

 

Katja felt like a lampshade as she twirled the bottom of her dress. She cursed to herself, knowing it was her own words that got her into this beautiful constricting dress. The gown, along with others that she was given were indeed beautiful but she wanted her own clothes, still thankful to Ronan’s hospitality.

“What are you looking at?”

Katja looked over her shoulder to Korath as he sat crisscross behind her with the rotting dumplings in his lap.

“You really shouldn’t eat those. They’ve been spoiled for weeks.”

“Another benefit to my kind. We can survive on almost anything and the wheat in the dough smells like home.”

“Wait ‘til I’m inside to start eating those.”

Korath ignored her, tearing open the first box as he swallowed the pour dumplings whole. Katja took a step into the pod that Ronan had described just weeks earlier. It was big enough for a few people but from what she could tell there was no power source to launch the pod. She sighed, wanting badly to go back home but it was all useless. Katja was still, in a way, unconvinced that she was in deep space. No matter how many times she looked out the shielded windows, she could never find the North Star, leaving her shit out of luck to try and escape but even then, that was a problem itself.

She was always guarded by one of the two guards or Ronan himself as she was forced to sit a few days by his chair in the main hall as the ship carried on. In all of her life, Katja was never as close to anyone as Ronan was trying to get with her. Maybe it was just for information but Katja only smiled and tried to be as polite as Jackie had taught her.

Katja looked up, not hearing Korath’s slurping as she found him to be gone.

“I told him to leave.”

She jumped out of her skin to Ronan as he reclined in the pilot’s seat in the next room.

“What are you doing here?”

“This is where I go to hide from the ship.”

“Ship inside the ship.”

“I find some serenity in solstice until you showed up.”

“Well, excuse me.”

She shook her head, not in the right mood to be a verbal punching bag for Ronan as she left him behind in the pod. Katja grew quicker in her footsteps as she quickly maneuvered her way through the ship parts as Ronan called out for her. Ronan turned his head, seeing her gone, not knowing he may have hurt her feelings. He stopped in the middle of the wreckage and grinned.

“You really need to stop running. It’s not polite.”

“And you completely were. It refreshing to know at even Extra-Terrestrial being can do total fucking dicks.”

He saw the shining bit of cloth belonging to one of the dresses he hand picked out for Katja to wear. Ronan felt his natural aggression try to break its shell but knew Katja was still getting used to being a forced passenger.

“Stop being so sensitive and come down from there before you hurt yourself.”

“What do you want in exchange? My sobby life story?”

“You’re going to be on this ship for a while.”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me, asshole.”

“You’re saying you have someone waiting for you on Terra?”

“You mean besides the dead Nana that I’m to blame for her incurable death? My mother is a cunt and her husband is just the same. I haven’t had a friendship in years and my little brother was the only decent one whose company I enjoyed.”

“So, you have no mate?”

“We’re done talking.”

Ronan waited in the long silence until she felt him to be gone.

“Fucking ass. Yeah, I have someone waiting for me. Then, poof. They run away with a fucking naked mole rat because I deserve better all while I get to be someone’s canary.”

“Was that so hard,” chuckled Ronan as Katja rolled her eyes in embarrassment.

“Jeez, can you give me any privacy?!”

She hopped down on the other side of the ship away from Ronan, only to run into him as he backed her into the side of the ship.

“And what would you give me in return?”

“I have nothing you want, remember?”

He kept his eyes on her as he ran his fingers through the brown and purple strands of her hair.

“I think I want another kiss.”

“No.”

“You were so keen to grow close the other night. I must that it went beneath everything I believe in and I rather enjoyed it.”

“Being high does that to you. I’m not so up for the idea of fucking you and I don’t exactly favor you so much.”

“Don’t you?”

“I think you’re getting big for your britches.”

“I have other anatomies that are _big_ and it is all because of you, my Terrain,” he whispered as he arched his neck to her ear.

Katja couldn’t understand what was going on through Ronan’s head as he trapped her in place with both of his hands placed on either side of her head. She kept as still as she could as his lips traced her neck, making bumps raise on her skin.

“Seriously, don’t you have anyone else? I’m not exactly your type.”

“I only want you,” he whispered into the shell of her ear.

Katja smiled, turning her head to bite him but was surprised as Ronan pressed his lips to hers, making true to his promise as he moaned into her lips. It was strange to Katja feeling Ronan, his smooth lips on hers, similar to everyone she ever made out with, his hands as they formed to the small of her back. She broke the kiss, feeling more torn than ever as Ronan chuckled almost to mock her.

She pushed him away in anger as he reached out for her. Katja reached back taking hold of his shoulder as she drove her knee into his stomach, taking the wind from him as he clamored to the floor. His side throbbed in pain as he looked up to Katja as she crossed her arms to him.

“As I said before, I’m up for fucking when you do it all to yourself.”

“Bitch,” he hissed as he tried to pull himself up.

“Don’t forget it, Ronan,” she called over her shoulder as she started her way up to her room.

The further she got away from Ronan, the more she felt guilt about attacking him. She was too prideful to admit that she enjoyed Ronan’s hands on her and that he was the first male in a long, long while to make her feel wanted and comfortable despite his sudden cravings for her.

“Bitch!”

She had just made it to the hallway leading to her room when Ronan charged after her. Katja grabbed her dress and ran unknowingly to her room as she was trapped. The door kicked open behind her as she jumped from the broken pieces.

“You ungrateful tramp. After all that I have done for you!”

“Why am I here?! You could have killed me when you found me!”

Ronan wanted to verbally answer her but found his Kree strength and desire for to answer her question. Katja did flinch as Ronan paced after her, catching her as he grabbed her by the waist and tossed her to bed. Katja rolled and crashed into the headboard as Ronan used her moment of confusion to grab her by the ankle and pull her to him. He had already shed his jacket and started pulling at the straps of Katja’s dress as she tried to fight him off.

He reached for her hand but they were already wrapped around the collecting bits of his shirt as she locked her legs tightly around his waist and pulled the shirt across his neck to choke him. Ronan was caught completely off guard from his basic instinct as he pulled Katja and himself from the bed to free himself from her clutches. He threw himself into the walls to get her to let him go but it was all met with success. Every fight for breath, every ounce of strength taken from him made his fury for her worse and his natural need to take an unoccupied, strong Terrian woman that made his mouth water.

Katja didn’t dare let go as her side began to hurt from Ronan whom was close to losing consciousness. She didn’t remember when to let go but she didn’t want to take any chances as he finally stopped moving underneath her. Katja was cautious, moving slowly as Ronan’s limbs fell to the ground. She sighed and fell back to the floor next to him.

“You could have at least said please, you prick.”

She sat up against the wall and looked down to Ronan, wondering how pissed off he would be when he woke. She got to her feet and grabbed a pillow from the bed, placing it underneath his head as she left him in the room all by herself.

Her.

It was all her.

It wasn’t the side of the pod that made him want her. It wasn’t the way she pressed her lips to his as he tasted smoke. It was when she pushed him to the ground when she woke and got loose of her chains. No one but a few select had been able to knock him from his feet. She was but a blur but the way her boots dug into the metal floors that he realized she was just like him.

Prideful. Strong. Secluded. Alone. Scared.

Every word he could think of led back to her and it couldn’t stop. He woke gasping for breath as the sun began to set around him. Ronan rubbed his sore throat and looked down to the pillow and the blanket that surrounded him. Again, one thing came to his mind.

He got to his feet and grabbed everything that belonged to Katja, even the clothes that he was keeping from her as he marched back to the main hall. If Nebula or Korath wasn’t there with her, then he would find her in one of her hiding places again.

Katja stayed in Nebula’s eye sight as she sat in her normal place next to Ronan’s _throne_ , she dubbed, as the tall stone seat shielded her from the eyes of the crew. The doors opened as Nebula stood to attention, making Katja worry as she got to her feet. Ronan knew she was there, assuming he would try and rip the ship apart to find her.

“What are you doing?”

She watched as he opened a glowing port in the floor and tossed her possessions in. Katja ran from her hiding place and watched as the floor closed her away from the only things she ever cared about.

“What did you do? Bring them back!”

Ronan turned on his heel and wrapped his finger around Katja’s throat as he lifted her from her feet.

“You want to know why you are here?”

Katja stood on her toes to try and ease herself as Ronan dragged her up the steps to his chair. His hand slammed down on the console, shutting them off as he dropped Katja to the top step. He sat, straddling the edge of his seat as Katja gasped for breath.

“I was weak.”

“No shit.”

“I should have let you die from the blood you so foolishly swallowed.”

Katja pushed herself up to her feet and glared down to Ronan.

“You give me back my things right now!”

“Earn it. You will earn it like you will earn your keep on my ship or I will send you to your death to the recesses of space.”

“I never asked you to save me. All you had to do the turn the ships around the send me on my way. I never asked for this!”

“I am not asking either.”

Ronan licked his lips, making Katja clench her fists. He prayed to the Gods his father taught him as a child that Katja would unleash her fury upon him until she spent from her mortal shell. Then, she would finally be him for the taking.

“Fine.”

Katja marched to him, reaching into the front of his trousers and closing her hand tightly around his cock as he groaned from her grip. She was quick to climb on his lap and thrust her tongue between his lips as his fingers wrapped around the arms of his chair. Ronan was unable to fight the twist of her hand as he pulled apart his trousers and closed his hand over hers.

Katja buried her face into Ronan’s neck, sinking her teeth into him enough so it would hurt as he tried to pull her off of him. When she was finally off, he focused on her and the weak material of her dress.

“This was what you wanted, right?! You are a damn monster!”

Ronan turned Katja into the hard seat and tore open the side of her dress as his hand met her thighs.

“No, I’m your master now…”

He was never able to show any kind of emotion close to happiness but we filled with twisted joy when he easily slid his fingers into her hidden wetness. Katja’s eyes widened to Ronan as he pinned her legs open with his weight and dragged his tongue up her neck.

“Well,” he mocked, “This is a surprise indeed.”

He pressed his forehead to Katja’s, subduing her so quickly as the grip on his sleeve began to weaken. No matter how much she fought, Ronan had moved to a different part of her skin and made her moan as she melted under his touch.

“Ronan, please…”

“Beg for me, wench! Make me believe.”

He pumped his fingers faster into her, drawing her closer as he pressed his thumb to her clit to torment her. He waited until she was at the peak of her release, pulling his hand away as she swiftly licked his fingers clean. Katja wasn’t fast enough to pull her dress together or attempt to run as Ronan pushed down his trousers and thrusted into her. Katja dug her nails into the back of his neck as she tried to close her legs.

Time was suspended as Ronan shuddered for a moment from her warmth. There was a word for the experience that Ronan was partaking, a rite of passage as Katja gasped in his ear. It was too beautiful to be described as he shifted his hips to hear his Terrain’s voice. Each shift, each thrust, he lost himself in the single art deeply forbidden to young Kree men such as him. It could have been shame crawling under his skin but he no longer cared as he lifted Katja’s legs over the sides of the chair and held her open for his much needed use.

Katja was no longer seeking to understand anything about Ronan or anything else as she arched away from him as much as she could. She had far too many special endeavors and one-night stands to comprehend that not only what he was doing was wrong but something she never wanted to stop. His flesh to hers, there was no more anger or snark. Ronan focused on her wetness, dripping to his thigh as he moved his hips faster.

Never had he taken a woman in any manner as his body took control and claimed Katja. He sucked the side of Katja’s neck, feeling her pulse race as he snapped the dress strap from her shoulder and roughly groped at her breast. His fingers pinched at her, making her scream as he completely covered her. He growled, sealing his lips to hers and swallowing her pleasured cries as Katja arched in his arms. He covered her mouth to hide her screams from the rest of the ship as he emptied himself into her sex.

Ronan gasped for breath, losing himself and his pent up fear as he pushed himself from the chair. His spent cock turned hard again as he looked to Katja, moving slowly to cover herself as came to. He knew in the deep, proud lineage of his blood that he was to remain fearless as he once was, not to be swayed by power such as an Infinity Stone or the young, writhing mass that glared in his direction. Ronan snapped his fingers, dropping the barriers as Nebula looked up from her hiding place.

From her spot, Ronan had ordered a disheveled Katja something simple as she clearly refused him. He grabbed her by the back of her hair, pulling her down the steps as she tried to keep her torn clothes together. Nebula turned her head and stayed focused to her neuro-waves that were keeping the ship alive and out of the way of Thanos, wherever he was hiding. Such things weren’t her business and she stayed that way as Ronan dragged Katja down the halls of the ship.

“Get off of me!”

Ronan tightened his grip and tossed Katja to his bedchamber floor as he sealed the door behind him. The hum between her legs slowed her as she tried to back away from the stripping Kree. Katja was able to pushed her hand up into his cheek and cut his skin as he pinned her to the wall and tore her exquisite dress to shreds. He took a few moments to indulge in the newer parts of revealed flesh as he let his mind run wild with lust from the sight of her swollen lips to the teeth marks at her neck and shoulders, ready to add more.

He pushed Katja to the cold floor and snaked himself between her legs, thrusting into her as her voice echoed from the high walls. He pinned her hands on either side of her head and gladly ravished her skin as she let herself give in to Ronan, as if she had a choice to call her own.

“Ronan,” she gasped, leaving it to be the only word she could comprehend as Ronan fucked her into the floor.

“This is your purpose, my lovely pet, to be mine as I chose to take until the end of your days. Mine to take in every manner, as is my right as your master. Now beg for me…”

Katja felt no shame that she turned her head and smiled as she tried to break free of his concrete hold on her. Over all the sensations rolling through her body, there was one that sank deep to her core.

_Purpose…_


	5. Where is my mind

_Hold on…_

_Her hands, one on top of the other pumped into her Nana’s chest as she tried to do anything to keep her heart going._

_Hold on…_

_She dug her feet harder into the pavement, tasting a stranger’s blood as she was so close to the ambulance doors._

_Hold on…_

_She paced on, turning corner after corner as she looked over her shoulder to Ronan. It was always the same hungry snarl to his lip and the smile in his eyes. It was a chase and she loved it. Years since she was noticed and she learned to be lonely._

_Learn to be lonely and the world just goes away._

_But it never did._

_The world kept turning and the she blinked letting six years go to waste as she watched the world spin without her._

_Hold on…_

_She held on to the grass as cried, praying for everything to go away._

_Hold on…_

_She pulled at the chains as her head began to spin. The motor roared outside and underneath her as she screamed at the top of her lungs, doing whatever it took to get free as her head spun completely loose into nothing._

Ronan woke, refreshed, at the sounds of Katja moaning from a nightmare in her sleep on the other side of the bed. It pleased him so much to see the marks and the scratches on her back that he left over the previous month since their episode in the main hall. He was true to his word, taking her when and where he pleased as her moans where the greatest of symphonies in his ears. She was an addicting creature, making him tighten his grip around her throat when the time came and let himself let out his constant frustrations upon her as she refused to fight him off anymore.

He smiled to himself as he gently pulled the sheet away from her body and indulged in her skin to the various ink designs. There was the mortal myth of a Phoenix displayed with its wings valiantly spread across her back. The few times he used her hair as reins as he pulled her back onto his cock, he noticed the small strange shell behind her ear. His favorite was the trail of flat sparrows as she described that started from the bend in her arm to the edge of her wrist. Ronan watched as she clutched at her pillow, perhaps dreaming of her abduction again.

He would sometimes watch when she rested alone and listened to her scream for her Matron. On occasion, he would give her her moments of peace, keeping her locked away while they destroyed landed ships and took what they needed, now some objects of value. Ronan was lucky to have a ship that ran on the pulses of his crew and with Katja on board, the vessel would only run smoother but it was only a matter of time before Thanos caught up with the ship and make everyone suffer, including his Terrian.

Ronan turned in the bed and traced his finger down her spine. It was something he enjoyed doing to calm Katja’s nightmares. He drew his finger back up, making her sigh as she finally calmed and turned to her stomach soundly. Her knee shifted as her legs opened a fraction. Ronan inhaled, sensing her arousal as he grew hard underneath the thin sheet. He kissed the skin on her back as he slowly moved down the bed and moving the sheet off himself. The more he was with her, the more he felt no need to keep himself modest.

In the ways of his people, intimacy was limited to the peak of reproducing for the sole purpose of the Kree armies. Never was there an emotion such as love, admiration or what was pulsing his every vein down to his cock, lust. He turned, reaching underneath her as he pulled her hips up from the bed. Ronan felt his eyes move to the back of his head as he inhaled Katja’s scent. He blindly darted his tongue forward and tasted her, enjoying the simple delicacy of her as he moaned. He could feel her slowly starting to wake as he nibbled on her lips, feeling her delicate skin to his.

Katja sighed, feeling her nightmare slowly vanish as she felt him between her legs. He was always there when she woke, using her whether she was awake or not. She woke, looking over her shoulder to Ronan as he teased her with his tongue. She turned, closing her legs as she cut him off from herself but he only grabbed her by the ankle and pried her legs apart. Ronan knew to be quick as he moved forward and pressed his lips to her clit.

She moaned as he pinned her open legs wide over his shoulders to feast upon her. Never had he tasted anything as sweet and decadent as her as he moaned into her cunt, thrusting his tongue in as Katja’s hand shot for his head. She propped herself up and grabbed at his hair, rocking her hips to his tongue and feeling him growl into her skin as he moved back up to her clit. He refused to slow for her benefit as he pushed his two fingers into her to feel her walls tighten around him. He was quickly growing accustom to stories and the men he pillaged from, offering advice in pleasing a woman in exchange for their lives, proving to the wondrous reactions as he could feel her come close to reaching the peak of her release.

He wrapped his arms around Katja, staying between her legs as he lifted from the bed and pushed her roughly to the head board while Katja clung to him and the wood behind her. Ronan gave her clit one final sharp suck as he pulled himself away, letting his long, blue fingers continue to fuck her.

“Fuck. Fuck,” she cursed.

“Now, now. That is no way for a woman to speak. Perhaps you need to be silenced.”

Ronan pressed his lips to Katja’s and thrusted his tongue into her mouth. His whole body pressed against hers, trapping her to the wall as he worked his fingers faster. Katja moaned, tasting herself on Ronan’s tongue. This was beyond anything she had ever dreamed of in the ways of something on this high of a carnal level.

At first, it was too much for her, feeling him pressed against her as he made her scream but over time, she got used to Ronan constantly touching her whether he was fucking her or refusing to let her go anywhere without him. Sometimes, she would wake and find his arms wrapped almost too tightly around her body, refusing to let her go, even when he slept. She learned to deal with it.

Ronan waited until the perfect moment as he pulled his fingers away and licked at her wetness. His eyes rolled back from the taste, neglecting Katja for the moment as he focused and thrusted into her. She gasped for breath, digging her nails into his neck as he smiled to her submission. She was a paradise he had only read about in his younger years, holding her open as he let her slowly give in. Her head hit the back of the bedchamber wall as his wicked chuckled filled her ear.

“It’s almost a shame there is no more fight in you, my pet. I nearly have you as I wish, to beg for me until the end of my days. Perhaps I shall fetch you a collar in my next pillage.”

He bit into her neck, keeping her still as he thrusted his hips harder as Katja could barely breathe. Most of the time she could barely think in the moments Ronan took her. It was almost as if him taking her was making her lose her fight towards him. Next time, she would need the upper ground but now, she craved him, needing more strength and hunger as she came around him, making him hiss through his teeth. The feeling of a coming woman’s warmth was still brand new to him as he emptied himself in her, shuddering to the growing heat and relief in his body.

He stayed on his knees, pressing Katja to the wall as he panted into the shell of her ear. He could feel her hands weakly trying to hold him as he pulled them back to the bed. Katja’s mortal shell was growing weak as Ronan lifted her to the bed under them and wrapped her carelessly. Katja’s eyes sank shut as Ronan rested on his side, staring at her. She was indeed a thing of wonder.

Time passed as Ronan met the light of day on another planet, freight ships were cruising carelessly on schedule as he dressed back in his gear and headed for the scouting ships. He locked the door to his bedchambers should Katja had waken before then.

A calm, uneasy smile graced his face as he marched forward to the entrance of the docking bay…

-

Time.

Time goes by…

So slowly…

She blinked as she held her knees to her chest. The lilac-ish dress she wore spread out around her in waves as she traced the edges of her sparrows, following each line perfectly as her boredom was more than settled in but she didn’t mind it though. Ronan was gone longer than expected, meaning either he was coming back with a new bounty or he was finally dead. Katja did what she could to not be idle; making the bed and smoothing out the dress that was laid out for her. She groaned wishing she had her bag, using anything to keep herself from going mad.

She turned into the nearest wall and thumped her head to the hard surface. The hit made her terrible headache nearly bearable. Over time, it was growing worse. She took no care in telling Ronan, he was busy as usual anyway.

“Give me a fricking break…”

She thumped her head again, denting a pattern in the wall as it gradually began to shift. Katja could smell the musk of the tunnels as she pried the wall panel back and was drawn forward. She could remember the grooves of the tunnel, taking her time to travel the darkness until she was greeted with the dull lights of the hanger.

The large space was quickly becoming a second home for her as she made her way through the vacant ships. She sat in her usual pod, wishing she knew how to pilot it so she could leave. Katja’s world had become fairly bigger over the weeks of being stuck in space with nowhere to go. She felt no guilt for a moment, having nothing left to live for on Earth. There was a small bit of her that didn’t want to leave Ronan behind, that part that was spinning every time he touched her.

Though she was a captive, she felt more free than she’d felt in years. She closed her eyes and inhaled the cold metal, sensing something new in the pod as the fought her dizziness. Katja moved from the main chair, looking around the console then to the smaller room of the small ship.

At first, she could smell Ronan, missing him, oddly, as she ventured to the second chair with her jaw agape as she saw the edge of her bag tucked underneath.

She pulled it into her arms and held the pack close, smelling Jackie in the stitches. She smiled to herself, not really caring if Ronan would get mad that she found it. She knelt to the ground feeling her chest tighten but it didn’t frighten her. Katja was content, calm, not noticing the trickle of blood that ran down her nose and stained the light fabric of her dress.

She turned to leave as her knees buckled, making her crash to the floor. Her eyes felt heavy has she pulled the bag close to her. She turned her body to her side, wishing Ronan was there to keep her warm.

-

“No prisoners?”

“We don’t have the resources for more.”

“Normally, you would take a single man.”

“The next trip to ground, we release a few. They are dead weight.”

“They are keeping the ship afloat, sir.”

“That’s an order.”

“Fine.”

Nebula wrapped her knuckles around the controls as she steadied her ship to the landing dock. The solid thud and the sliding metal brought her to her feet so she wouldn’t have to spend another moment with Ronan. He lingered, hearing his men unloading the months’ worth of supplies, wondering how much longer he would have to carry on with a life such as this.

He looked to the torn sleeve of his shirt, seeing the nearly deep cut that was wrapped to perfection. He was careless, thinking of Katja as he was distracted with the jewels he had found. They would have looked dazzling to her skin and it nearly cost him his life. Ronan didn’t want to think of her as a problem as he did before.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to calm his thoughts, though she was there. She was there, pulling him into madness and he couldn’t put it together. Katja was the meaning of normal yet, unique all the same. The bond he felt with her was unnatural in every sense.

“Ronan!”

He shot up, looking through the front shield to Nebula with an unconscious Katja, bleeding in her arms. He ran from the ship behind them, catching the bag that had slipped from her weak clutch. They raced through the ship to the healing bay as the women scrambled to assess her.

Ronan physically stopped himself as Nebula stepped away.

“I checked the scans of the room and she wasn’t there. She must have accessed the tunnels. There was a faint beat…”

“That’s enough.”

He stood in the doorway and watched as bits of Katja appeared and vanished again behind the healers. Nebula left, overseeing the supplies and the hours of static with no trace of Thanos for eons. She returned to the now quiet room as Ronan sat next to Katja’s bedside.

“She’s dying.”

“For what?”

“Her heart is not strong enough for the deep of space. There is not point of return, even if we take her back the gravity would crash her heart and her veins would starve.”

His blue hand gently stroked her hair back, showing off the paleness in her skin. Nebula knew he was not a man of emotion and with an attachment strong enough to his Terrian, it was a weakness he knew it was careless to show.

Love, it may have been called.

If there was only a way to save her.

“If there is no return, the thing you can do is put her out of her misery and not let her suffer.”

She watched as Ronan’s hand closed to Katja’s.

“Please, leave me.”

She knew not to be asked twice as she made her way to the rafters of the hanger. She sat in her normal spot, finding Korath fiddling with the Terrian’s possessions.

“How much longer?”

“Hours, a day with her strength. She may recover for a moment, she may suffer hysteria in her final moments. Who knows how Ronan will react?”

“If there was any good from this, he was able to find some humanity.”

“A shame. I was starting to like her.”

Korath placed his hand to Nebula’s shoulder and reclined them back as he opened Katja’s music box. They were silent, letting the single notes echo the ship around them.

Ronan wiped his tears away, praying in every language he was taught for an answer or miracle to save Katja. Every minute that passed, her breaths grew shorter and it would only be a matter of time until she was truly dead.

He stopped his thoughts at once, grabbing the chair underneath him and flinging it to the wall as it shattered to pieces. He opened his mouth and roared in anger, furious to feel Katja slipping through his fingers. He couldn’t, he refused to let her go. Ronan turned to the nearest wall, letting his fists dent and damage it until he sank to his knees.

Ronan sobbed into his hands, feeling all of his emotions pour out. He looked to Katja sleeping, not wanting to waste anymore tears for her. He crawled to the side of her bed and would take in every bit of her that he could manage. If he couldn’t save her, then he would do whatever it took possible to remember her.

It was all coincidence. The wrong place at the wrong time. Her abduction, finding her container. The universe had placed her in front of him and was easily taking her away.

He would remember her.

He didn’t mind the bit of blood that appeared from her nose. Death was not beauty but he would make an exception for her. His own dark blood from his cut knuckle fell to her cheek, staining her as he admired her smoothness.

“This cannot be how it is to end, Katja. I cannot accept it.”

A bit of movement caught his eye as the drop of his blood moved, precisely up Katja’s face. Ronan watched as his blood pooled to the tip of her nose and disappeared. The color flushed from his face, shocked with the realization of what had happened. He reached for the blade in his hand and pricked his finger as well as Katja’s.

“Please, please…”

If he was right, there could be a way. Perhaps it was coincidence...

Each of their blood fell to the table underneath Katja, moving gradually to one another until they joined and blended, making Ronan gasping in uneven breaths. Tears flooded from his eyes, this time of relief and happiness as well as uncertainty. His breaths turned to soft laughter as he kissed Katja’s lips.

“Stay strong, my Terrian. This will not be how this ends.”

Ronan forced his hand away from Katja’s and ran for his room, praying that what he was looking for was buried with what little he had left in the world.

 


	6. Always on your side

Ronan knew the heart was going to explode from his chest. He fumbled with what he carried as she ran through his mind.

It would work. It had to. The universe couldn’t have given him a clearer sign.

“Just a bit longer…”

He ignored the faces of his crew as he sealed the doors of the bay and found Katja moaning in pain. Ronan reached for the nearest bowl, saving Katja as she threw up, pushing what she could from her system.

“Ronan,” she moaned as she tried to hold her head up.

“Hush now, Katja. I give you my word that everything will be alright.”

She smiled, feeling her body in pain. She didn’t know what was happening to her but the instant she saw his face, Katja believed every word to be true. Ronan helped her rinse out her mouth with the wine he gave her and eased her back to the bed.

“Wh-What’s happening to me?”

“It seems you were not ready for such an odyssey of this magnitude. Your heart could not take the travel. I fear for where ever you may have been sent to you may have been safe. It was my own fault for this to happen.”

“I’m dying…”

Ronan’s heart nearly ripped in two as Katja did her best to hold his hand.

“I am sorry.”

“You sound like you’re… gonna miss me…”

Ronan could feel his tears fall for her.

“Are… You are not afraid to die?”

“I am. At first, I thought what I felt for you was carnal. I feel something strong with you. Something I cannot explain. I’ve been alone for so long…”

Her smile began to fade as Ronan pushed all of his fear away.

“Katja! There is a way that I can save you. Will you let me save you?”

“I don’t want to die,” she crocked in pain.

Ronan took her answer as a yes as he reached for the crate near her legs and flung the top open. His hand scrambled for the items. He stopped as his fear returned, clutching his hand as he looked to Katja. If she lived and remembered what he did, she may not forgive him but he would be doing for her.

He returned to her side and opened his hand to the accords belonging to his parents when they became of age. Their own union could make her Kree but it would not have a proper blessing. That would be for the ink to decide that for them. He took the first accord, a silver ring and pushed the metal up her clammy finger. The metal accepted her, forming to her skin as did his own. His refused to let his mind wander to the look of shame his father would give him.

Ronan’s marriage as well as any of his kind was to remain pure to another Kree but he was long past anything proper. He slid his father’s ring to his finger, feeling it tighten as the feeling did in his chest.

A perfect match. A bond, soon to be lasting.

“Ronan…”

“Hold on.”

His fingers slipped, holding the strong, thin needle as steady as he could manage. If he had been scared, the strength of his hand would have broken the needle and ruined his lone chance to save her. He pushed one end into the thinnest flesh of his wrist, feeling the faintest bit of discomfort, a strange feeling that begin to fill his veins. He remembered this feeling the first time Katja kissed him.

Ronan aimed the other side of the needle to Katja’s bare wrist. It was plain and deathly pale, waiting for the potential of how the needle would mark her and he was sure that from the ink on that covered her skin already, it would only make her more beautiful.

He cupped the side of her face and looked into her fading eyes. Her breaths became more shallow as her weakened grip began to fail.

“Katja, I am here,” he pushed the needle and his arm forward as the metal pierced her skin, “For now and eternity…”

The needle, as he and surely she could feel, melted and moved to the surface of their skin, equally moving in indistinct patterns. Ronan felt a foreign energy appear and vanish in the same moment as he looked down to Katja as her skin began to accept the needle’s ink. Her glossed eyes flew open as she fought to capture her breath. Ronan caught her in his arms, holding her still as she flailed. Her blood would hurt the worst from the rejuvenation.

Her blood, her truer blood would turn as would she and Ronan waited as her skin began to change. Through her moans, he looked to the darkening of her sweating flesh as the colored paleness turned to a hard blue such as his as she stuck out from her whiteness robe. He looked into her eyes, watching as her dark irises glimmer into a deeper, more whole tint that mirrored his and the mishued strands of her hair. His heart screamed in his chest, falling in love with Katja.

The ink reappeared, his traveling up his arm and disappearing into the shoulder of his tunic. Katja’s ink rippled her bare arm like an ocean wave, never ending as the outlines slowly began to attach and cease. He could feel the calming of the ink on his back as Katja’s breath calmed. Ronan followed the pain down his other arm as Kajta’s fingernail tips broke his skin, proving her strong again.

Katja could feel herself smile. She had never felt more content in all her life. She could feel Ronan’s arms around her, nearly cradling the life from her but it was all different. It was peaceful, strange.

She never wanted it to end.

Her beautiful eyes closed, giving them both peace as Katja fell asleep in his arms. Ronan looked to the accords around their fingers and prayed but not that it would matter; she was still worthy from the bond and the fallen lineage of her blood, their blood now. The metal of the accords faded, blending to their skin as did the shade of ink, remaining visible enough.

Ronan felt the ink settle as did his nerves as he gathered up Katja in his arms and pulled her close to his chest. She had to know, to listen to the grown beating in his chest, for which she was to blame. He was speechless, only needing the steady breaths of his bride deep in sleep to give him assurance.

-

Everything was soft…

_It’s only just a dream._

She felt so different and she was alright with the change but she didn’t know nor did she want to. There was pain, so much pain and the blood…

The blood.

The softness, faded for the moment as she remembered.

The cold escape pod collapsed around her as the breath in her lungs refuse to be drawn in. That’s when she saw the blood on the lovely dress. Katja hoped Ronan wouldn’t be too mad at her. There was the ship around her that vanished as her chest tightened. There was only one explanation.

_Am I dead?_

“No.”

The softness was still there but she opened her eyes, seeing Nebula sharpen her hunting knife at the bedside.

“What?”

“Welcome back.”

Katja looked around. The walls of her old room seemed so much closer.

“What happened?”

“Orders. You are to stay in here for the duration of your rest.”

“Where is Ronan?”

“Observing his crew. We’ve taken a detour from the Nova Corps. They were so close to finding us. This isn’t exactly our ship.”

“I would have figured. Can I see him?”

“Orders. I can’t let you see him right now. Everything has been moved here, should you need it.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“That’s for him to say.”

Nebula got to her feet and walked from Katja’s room. Katja waited until the door closed as she flung back her sheets and ran to the open wardrobe. Her eyes settle for a moment on a white dress, the summer dress she plucked off a clearance rack and made it her own. She pulled it on and snuck into the corridor in the same direction Nebula was headed. Katja already knew where she was going.

First there was hope, happiness enough to make him sick. Then, _he_ sank into his mind. It could have been madness or he was just getting that much closer. Ronan began to wonder if what he did for Katja was out of love or cruelty. If Thanos found out about her then her near death would have been lucky. Thanos enjoyed the screams.

“You need to face her. She’ll know soon enough.”

Ronan knew Nebula was speaking true.

“She needs to rest.”

“It’s been two days. She’s asking for you.”

He did what he could to hide his sigh of relief.

“So she’s awake.”

“Whatever you are planning, I suggest it be a course of action that doesn’t get us killed, including her.”

“I know,” said Ronan, seeing the bit of white out of the corner of his eye.

Katja moved as quickly and quietly as she could in the shadows as Nebula paced down the steps toward the far entrance of the deck. She waited and watched as Ronan gave orders to other members of the crew until they left one by one from his command.

“You can stop hiding now.”

Katja slowly moved from the pipes where she was hiding and made her way around the side of his chair until she stopped on the steps.

“What happened?”

“You were saved.”

“I don’t do religion. Trying again.”

“Does it matter?”

“To me it does. Everything hurt, so much. I thought I was going to die. Everything stopped working and my lungs felt like they flattened. What happened?”

“I can’t explain it. It all happened so fast.”

Katja felt something strange as her heart broke, feeling it tenfold like he was disowning her. Before she didn’t care but now what he said meant the world to her.

“Then just don’t tell me. You’re good at that.”

Ronan heart leapt as he did towards Katja and reached out for her arm. Again, it was so fast. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around as her back hit the tall side of his chair. The breath was pushed from her lungs and from Ronan as he pressed his forehead to hers and nothing else. The simple bit of contact made her want more of his skin, whatever part of him it was. He stroked the side of her face, calming her with his touch.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“Answer me this. The moment you woke on this ship. You’ve run to every possible place, out of my reach.”

“So?”

Ronan slowly pulled himself away as Katja took notice and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. Her grip was strong and sure as she pressed his hand to her face again.

“Now you can’t part with me, can you?”

She knew it was true and it began to terrify her.

“What happened?”

“Your body was failing from the travels of deep space. Your heart was slowly starting to give in.”

“How am I still alive?”

Ronan took her hand and kissed her finger where the accord appeared as her eyes marveled at the polish silver.

“You have not favored me, Katja but the thought of losing you was too severe for me to accept. Somewhere deep within your linage is Kree blood, the blood of my people.”

“I’m an alien?”

“You are not as normal as you may seem. Should another path had been laid out, you would have been Inhuman but…”

“But?”

“Our blood bonded, Katja. Never does it do such a thing unless it is fated to be.”

“How? I was stolen.”

“There is a reason for everything.

“So Inhuman was the second path. What was the first?”

Katja’s eyes stayed glued to the accord, letting everything settling in. The answer was fit snuggly around her finger. Ronan rubbed this thumb to Katja’s bare arm. She was more shocked to the even distribution of ink to her arm as the swirled patterns canvassed her skin.

“I took you as mine but not as you think.”

“You fucking married me?!”

“You begged me to save your life! You were dying and there was a chance that I could save you. I do not regret this!”

There was to rage in his face but an understanding that she just had to accept.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“How about a fair bit of gratitude?”

“Stop it!”

Katja shoved Ronan back enough to catch her breath.

“I’m… I’m not saying I’m not grateful, Ronan. I just… am still trying to process this.”

“I understand the severity of this, Katja but I will not say that I wish to take this back. The bonding of blood is the highest form of Kree blessings.”

“I know what you’re saying but I’m not exactly marriage material. No one stays with me. Believe me, you’ll just run when you get the chance.”

Ronan forced his fingers from forming into fists as he bit back his emotions the best he could. It was a rushed decision with one consequence and he was willing to live with it, if only he believed his own words.

“Whatever you wish, I will abide, _Mrya._ ”

_My life._

She could understand him in his native tongue. She wanted to give in and fling her arms around him, thanking him for saving her but she couldn’t. Ronan lifted her chin and left a single kiss to her lips. Both Katja and Ronan could feel no greater emotion in the world.

“Much like our union, there is much that you don’t understand but know that while you are in my care, nothing will harm you. Our union will be one of convenience as long as you wish to stay on the ship. I will put you in a pod and will let you know when we touch upon a safe enough dwelling or earth but it will not be safe.”

He pulled away more from her, feeling shame and pride filling his veins.

“I will need your decision soon. We are close to Xandar and you’ll thrive there.”

Katja was left alone in the main hall as Ronan left her to her racing thoughts.

-

Her fingers ran over the various fabrics of the dresses. She dropped her hands, finding her jeans as the calm roughness reminded her of home. If anything, she would miss the fashion the most. No other place in the galaxy knew of denim.

The cool breeze didn’t bother her as she stood naked by herself. Katja had locked the door, not needing Korath or Nebula to watch her. Most of the ship was asleep by now except for her and Ronan. She knew, she could feel his heart racing and his arm pulsing. It did hurt but it hurt for him. It was strange, having a sure connection to someone. Ronan was staying away to give her time but the bond he was talking about was slowly giving her some clarity to how she secretly felt for him.

She wanted to see Ronan but she was always given a reason to stay put. In her bones, she could feel certain things. The ship had stopped moving, meaning they were hidden somewhere and the walls had a rumble to them. In her bones, she could feel less of the beating hearts upon the ship.

She groaned, rubbing at her arm. Whatever Ronan was going through; it was nothing compared to what she felt. She found the softest, sheerest dress or what resembled a dress in the wardrobe and slipped in on. Katja opened her door and covered herself with a robe, turning towards the direction of Ronan’s room.

Ronan braced himself on the side of the bed and steadied his breaths. The ail he took for the infection in his arm was taking their time to heal him but with his knowledge, it would heal him. His head began to spin and he didn’t want to risk anything interfering his healing. The only thing that could get him through his pains was awake on the other side of the ship but she was moving and she was coming for him.

Ronan didn’t have a reason to lock his door and wouldn’t think twice. As much as he wanted to stay away from Katja, he knew the bond would bring her sooner or later. The closer she came, the more he could tolerate his pain.

Katja felt anxious the closer she got to Ronan’s door. Through her palm, she could him in the room. She could hear his pain and it hurt her as well. She pushed her way through, staying quite as she made her way into the darkness with only a lit orb to help her find Ronan.

One. Two. Three steps.

Each one made the pain in his arm vanish as he felt come closer to him. Katja was slow, rounding the foot of the bed as his groans were gone and his controlled breath became noticeable. Ronan kept his eyes turned to the floor as he saw Katja stop in front of him. He could see the edge of her robe and gown. He knew she would choose the lightest gown.

He remembered finding it on the first raid in the ship itself. There was no mistress on broad and felt it to just be a useless trinket to wither away with the ship. Now as his eyes traveled up the length of the gown, admiring the shape it took under Katja’s robe, the more he realized saving it was the best decision he ever made. Katja watched as Ronan looked to the dress but not to her.

“Am I gonna have to get naked for you to pay some attention to me?”

He stopped and let out a weak chuckle.

“You are making this difficult for me, woman.”

“You don’t want me to go, do you?”

Ronan reached up and pulled Katja close. His large arms wrapped around her waist, surprising her as the robe fell around her. She rested her head to his and held him. She didn’t want to leave. Ronan was soothed by the edge of her fingertips as they softly raked his neck. Katja reached between her and lifted his chin, finally bringing his eyes up to hers.

“I hold you to your word.”

“What?”

“You said you wouldn’t let any harm come to me. I’ll hold you to that. It’s not easy for me to trust someone. I like you and not because you married me. Whatever you’re running from, I want to be here with you.”

Ronan opened his mouth with some worry but wasn’t ready for what he was to say.

“I can’t…”

Katja raised her hand and slapped Ronan hard across the face. She had to get through to him someway and if shaking him was the only way, so be it. Rage filled Ronan as he shot to his feet, ready to lash out at her. He took a step forward as Katja pushed the robe off the rest of the way and crashed into Ronan making him stop. She pulled him down, kissing him as his rage melted away and filled him with her.

There was no emotion he could describe as he moved backwards until his knees touched the edge of the bed. Ronan broke away from the kiss, only for Katja to shove him to his back. The light in the headboard shone on Katja as she climbed his lap for him. He was powerless to deny her or himself. Katja pulled up the sides of the dress as his blue hands wrapped around her pale thighs. He wasn’t bothered that her skin didn’t change but there would be time for that later.

She arched her head down, kissing his neck as his fingers pulled the straps of the dress down her arms. He didn’t want to rip the fabric, careful to make sure to he could pull it from her again when he wanted. Katja straddled his lap, grinding herself to ease the ache between her legs, only making it worse as she deepened her kisses. Ronan felt each of his muscles tensing, threatening to make him lose control and claim Katja as he did before but…

Everything was different now.

She was his and she didn’t resist him. The dress pooled at her waist, leaving only her brown and purple hair to hide her skin. Ronan couldn’t hold his composure any longer as he held Katja and turned her into the bed. Her hair spread around like the Terrian myth of an angel. He was drowned in her beauty as he had pushed off anything so that every part of his could touch her. He remembered looking to her eyes one last time as they lightened to a frighteningly stunning purple as his…

Every person that promised her the world had vanish as soon as Ronan’s lips kissed her neck. She let go of every loneliness and knew that she was vital for the first time in her life.


	7. I would have followed you...

Beds were only but a necessity for rest for the next battle, one after the other. Now, it had been consumed with a sating fire that he had never known. His large arms shifted between the sheets to try and find her but he knew where she was. He wanted to move but he could feel her straddling his lower back.

“Don’t move.”

He kept his eyes closed and smiled as he tried no to perturb Katja.

“And what shall be the consequence if I were to move?”

“I’d be a bit unhappy and you’d ruin the surprise, so stay still.”

“I am but the more you stay still, the more of myself _flourishes_ for you.”

He knew she was smiling as he felt paper move at his lower back and followed the sound of her sketching, presumably his share of the ink that had settled from the needle. Something so small that now would lead to a more positive uncertainty of what was to come, most likely to be her once she was finished.

“You’re not mad me at finding the bag?”

“There were other things I was worried about, _Mrsta._ ”

“ _My light?_ Looks like I got married to a sentimentalist.”

“Not in my nature and that of opposite. I wasn’t a good man. I was disciplined, pure…”

“You were a virgin?”

“As a Kree man should.”

“Well that explains things,” she huffed

Katja was exhausted and restful all at once and it was refreshing to feel something, anything. She stopped and looked down to the finished image as she leaned over, careful not to touch Ronan as she placed the pad in his hand. Ronan turned, letting Katja free as her leg dangled over his hip. He propped himself up on his elbow and slowly stroked at Katja’s leg as he looked to the ink. It was painted from blade to blade in strong, bold dark strokes if they were as such. He grinned, knowing the resilient creature on the paper was surely him. Katja was glad, approving of the likeness as she kissed the edge of the ink to get his attention.

“I like how the needle hurts. It makes it permanent, making sure you bond with the ink. My favorite part is when they tell you not to pick at the scabs. It’s so tempting to pick them away but I wouldn’t want to ruin what took hours to finish.”

“What are the birds for?”

“Twenty-six birds for twenty-six years. I haven’t had much of a journey as they do but I went as far as I could.”

Ronan could hear the sadness in her voice as he turned to face her. The blanket collected to her hip as his hand now made its way up her side to her neck.

“Where would you like to go? We are in the depths of space.”

“Anywhere but I think I’ll stay here for now, if it will suit you.”

“It most certainly will,” he groaned as he pulled Katja to his chest.

Katja braced him, pressing her hips to his to tease him. Ronan curled his fingers around her thighs and pulled closer to his painfully hard cock. She smiled, leaning fully over him and teasing his lips as well as the rest of him. His teeth dug into the side of his bottom lip as he pushed his hips into her warm, so inviting and making her groan.

Ronan took her lips, giving in and pressed himself harder into Katja, leaving her to gyrate against him. She was so wet, growing more so with each thrust. He broke the heavy kiss, looking up to Katja as her heaving chest made his mouth water.

“I should warn you now, you are experiencing the changes of union.”

“Meaning?”

“The heat you are feeling, the pulling bond? It can last for years.”

“Is it bothering you, baby?”

Katja reached under the sheets, finding Ronan and wrapping her fingers tightly around him in one try. He hissed and set his teeth, ready to tear into his woman.

“Listen here, wife, should you wish to stay as such, you procced forward down this path and I will fuck you into the wall until I have had my fill of you.”

Ronan’s heart pulsed as Katja grin twisted wicked and slowly sank onto his cock.

“Promise,” she asked as she ghosted her lips to his neck.

He was too enveloped in her sex to answer as he guided her up and down his cock.

“Always, _Mrya._ ”

-

He looked back to the bed, hating to leave but he knew Katja would be safe on the ship. He laced his boots tightly and tucked in his shirt with haste. A ship was spotted trailing them until Nebula felt it was time to alert Ronan. A soft moan came from the bed as he looked over his shoulder. His Terrian was in and out of slumber from the change her body was going through as well as exhausted from the constant climaxes.

A quick deal with the bridge and he would return to her. He reached to brush the hair from her face when the whole ship shook greatly, sending both him and Katja to the hard floor. Katja was jolted awake as her back hit the bed. Her hands clutched the fallen sheets to her body as Ronan dove for her.

“Katja! Stay here, lock the door behind me.”

She only shook her head and watched as Ronan fled from the room. She scrambled to her feet, feeling his fear and turning all the locks until the second shake of the ship made her turn in the direction of Ronan’s knife she knew was hidden under the wardrobe.

“We’ve taken fire, Ronan!”

“Where the hellos did they come from?!”

“From warp. It’s too calculated to this outcome. They were waiting for us!”

A lump appeared in his throat to the possibility of it being Thanos.

“It’s not him but whomever it is, is making sure they put a hole in the side of the ship. We have them out numbered but it’ll only be a matter of who they are and the weapons they brandish.”

Ronan reached for his pistol and cocked the lever back as he turned for the loading bay.

“Unlock the doors and let them come. Lock this ship down!”

Katja jumped at the inner bolts sealing her away from whatever was firing at the ship. She pulled on Ronan’s trousers and her leather jacket to keep her clothes in place, tucking away the blade just for a safe measure. Voices from the other side of the door made her worry. The wait, the possibility, the promise. She thought back to her promise. She promised to stay beside Ronan no matter what he was running from.

Necro came from every direction filing in as blasts were held from the loading dock. Ronan spotted Korath climbing the beams, ready to fire to whomever was hiding in the shadows. One of the scouting pods exploded near Ronan, sending him to the ground. Within seconds, he was bound and brought to his feet. He used them to better use, fighting off the masked few that surrounded him. A square punch to the jaw and he was down as he could barely take the sudden pain.

He was let go as his body thundered to the floor. Nebula had an electrical numbing collar bolted around her neck, disabling her functions both enhanced and natural as she held her shrieks of pain.

His eyes met every one of them. Ten mercenaries, a crate with something massive waiting to be released at a moment’s notice. The eleventh one stepped forward and pushed their hood down to show off her bloody lip that Ronan had given her. He was surprised to see her as a weak Xandarian taking command.

“Who are you?”

“Desperate. Call off you gun in the rafters, Kree.”

“I will not converse with a woman.”

The woman wiped the blood from her lip and reached for something inside her jacket.

“Hold him down.”

The masked men were swift, holding him down by three of them. The woman stepped forward as she lifted a small black box. Ronan could feel his blood racing through his veins as the waves from the box ran down his bare arm. He watched the smile on the woman’s face grow as she saw the accord appear on his forearm.

“My, my. Looks like the tyrant has been busy. Where is it? I want to see.”

Ronan tried to struggle as the men found the glowing tattoo on his back. The woman yanked up the shirt and cackled with all her might.

“Well, men. Looks like there is a wife on board the ship, one he’s so fond of by the looks of the ink. That needle must have hurt, scum. You,” she ordered to the nearest man, “find her. I want to see her blood.”

Ronan roared, using every bit of his strength to try and get free.

She could feel his heart racing as she clutched her handle of the dagger. Her arms felt tight. Something was wrong as she peeled the leather from her arms to relieve herself the best she could. She nerves were starting to rattle her. Something was coming…

She put her ear to the wall, feeling it, someone growing closer and closer. There were more heartbeats than before something was wrong. A chuckle was heard on the other side of the door as she listened closer.

“Found you…”

A scream was heard from the upper levels of the ship as Ronan turned his head.

“No.”

“That was quick.”

“No!”

The woman kicked her foot up into Ronan’s face, cutting the bridge of his nose as he groaned in pain.

“Try not to sob. You showed no compassion when you slaughtered my husband.”

“I have slaughtered many of your kind, wench.”

“Of course, you would not remember the eyes of the last Xandarian you slaughtered on the Dark Aster. What was it like to bathe in his blood?”

Her fingers grabbed what hair she could as she pulled a knife from her boot and pressed it hard enough to Ronan’s neck to see his dark blood.

“He was all that I had and you took him from me. I prayed for days and they were answered. He found me and told me of you. I will deliver you and your whore-wife and be rewarded for my tasks.”

“I do not fear you!”

“But you fear Thanos.”

He kept his proud look, feeling the bumps on his arm raise. His hand was so close to his own knife but there would be causalities, ensuring his recapture and death of Katja. His eyes turned to the shadows near one of the tunnels as he braced his knees.

“Death will come to me in my own natural time, much like it did for yours.”

The woman snarled as she drew her arm back to plunge the blade in his neck. A shot of light struck the woman square in her chest as her blood coated Ronan. He grabbed the woman’s knife before she hit the ground and slit the neck of his captors. Shots were fired above and from the shadows as Ronan slaughtered more.

He forced himself to stop as he heard Katja gasping for breath. He turned seeing her covered in blood as her eyes were focused out. She snapped to attention as Korath landed on his feet from above next to Nebula to cut the electric ties. Ronan pushed down the nozzle of her weapon and lifted her chin. Bits of her skin were changing from his to her natural form as she looked to the dead bodies around her.

“What do we do?”

“We…”

Ronan’s head spun as he felt a small trickle of blood run from his throat. He remembered the shriek from Katja as his head hit one of the dead that she had shot.

“Ronan? Wake up! Don’t you fucking die on me!”

“Let me.”

Korath had already hauled Ronan over his shoulder. Katja was still stuck as Nebula turned her.

“We need to get rid of the bodies. These came straight from Thanos.”

“We’re in deep space! He’ll notice bodies floating out in the open.”

Nebula slapped Katja to calm her, working as she took a calming breath.

“You don’t know him like I do. Untie who you can and grab a body.”

Ronan dreamed. It was unusual for him to do as such but with Katja, he didn’t mind. It showed no weakness and it was calming all the more. He moaned feeling his whole body tired. The dim light was welcoming as he looked to the ceiling of his bedchambers. He tried from move from the bed but was caught as he looked down to Katja’s arm tight around his waist.

He could sense her body was sore and her flesh was hot from the hot showers. She wore his pants and the smallest of his tunics as she rested in the bed next to him.

 _The bodies_ , he thought to himself.

The smart thing to do with the bodies was to burn them in the lower furnaces so that Thanos couldn’t lock on to any genetic signatures under his rule. He felt the vibrations of the ship burning on the furnace. They must have burned all the body to make them untraceable. By now, Korath would be scrapping the ships for what they were worth.

Ronan looked back to Katja as his hand brushed back the still wet hair from her eyes. She woke, smiling up to Ronan.

“Hey. You had me scared for a second.”

“Death comes not so easily for me, Katja.”

“Good.”

She rested her head on his shoulder as he left a kiss to her forehead. He turned his nose to her hair and inhaled her scent. He could sense something about her that made him cautious. She moved her hand to his neck to check the bandage.

“Only a scratch,” he promised.

“That was my job.”

“Indeed, it is.”

Ronan smiled as he turned Katja into the mattress and kissed her skin.

“Ronan, you need to rest. You lost a lot of blood.”

He ignored her and pushed his hand down the front of her trousers.

“The only thing I need is you, Katja,” he whispered into the shell of her ear, “but I can’t decide how. You do look fetching in my leathers.”

He could feel her worry melt away as she tugged the tunic over her head. Ronan was over her in an instant, slowly pushing off her trousers as his fingertips cooled her skin. He couldn’t stop, feeling something in the chambers with them. He pushed the feeling away, kissing Katja’s neck as she melted under him.

There was a newer, drawing scent that made his heart beat a bit faster, not that it wasn’t already racing for her. His kissed her deeper, every touch of her skin was not enough as he pulled her closer to his body. He stroked her, wet as she always was for him. Ronan pushed the sheet away from his body and the trousers from his legs in a single try.

With the dip of his hips, he entered Katja, making her gasp for breath as it filled his ears. He held her tightly, daring not to let her go.

_“Is this the best you can do?”_

He knew the voice.

_“What would your people think? First, a coward to run from death rather than embrace it and now intimately bonding with a weak mortal. I could break her with a single look…”_

No.

Katja dug her fingernails into Ronan’s shoulders, pulling him back to reality. He grinded his hip deeper into her sex. Her wetness kept him with her, making him… stop.

Ronan caught his breath as he looked down to the empty mattress. He could still hear Katja moaning form the other side of the bed under a copy of himself.

_“Why her?”_

Ronan felt something strange, foreign as he looked to the solid, dark eyes of his copy. It smiled to Ronan, moving his hips quicker to fuck Katja into the mattress.

_“A wife or trophy? More or less, you have weakened. This is how you take a woman.”_

Ronan watched one hand wrap tightly around Katja’s neck as her hands flew up to claw at its skin. Its other hand reached between them, moving its thumb harshly against her clit. Katja tried to fight but her body was slowly betraying her. The copy snarled, snapping his hips as his grip to her throat tightened.

The copy panted, lunging forward to thrust his tongue past her lips.

His heart was racing, building as he watched helplessly while Katja fought for what breath she could. It let go, making Katja cry out with each thrust. Ronan could feel rage and…

Fear.

It found him. _He_ found him.

He watched as his copy carelessly pounded his cock into Katja, pushing her over the edge with the tip of his finger and not slowing as her hands clutched at the copy.

_“I could kill her quickly and she wouldn’t even know…”_

“No…”

Both the copy’s hands closed around Katja’s neck, crushing her windpipe as the color drained from her skin.

“No!”

Its hand squeezed harder as Ronan watched Katja slowly stop fighting. She was still as her arms fell to her sides. The copy let her go as she laid lifeless in the bed with her brown and purple strands surrounded her. She was gone.

Ronan took in a deep breath and roared with all his might as he forced himself to believe that the dream wasn’t real. His eyes flew open as he gasped for breath. He looked down to Katja, her nightdress pulled and heaved as her arm was tucked tightly around his waist. The touch of her skin was the only thing keeping him from madness. He could feel the bandage stuck to his throat.

“ _So fragile, Kree. I’ll break her to break you, for breaking our word. You were not of the first but you will be made an example of. I am coming for you and her…_ ”

Katja moaned in her sleep, turning fully to his stomach as her warmth made the darkness fade. He wrapped both him arms tightly around his wife, feeling helpless as a small child would. Katja turned her head into his chest, inhaling his scent as her legs spread at the knees. Ronan closed his eyes and held on to the scent of his woman, his reason to not slip as he could sense something behind him.

“I should give you no kindness…”

It was a woman. The Xandarian woman that Katja killed.

“I never got to see my husband or his remains as you launched his drained body to the deep recesses of space.”

He was pulled from the moment as his arm moved on its own. He moved from the bed, looking down to Katja as she rested in his bed. The cloth of her dress fell shut again as her body tangled in the sheets. His body moved again, rounding the front of the bed as he was forced to move.

“Take her in, monster. Remember everything.”

“Wait…”

His mouth clamped shut as he was lowered and pulled a sleeping Katja into his arms. He fought as much as he could to speak but nothing would come out. Step by step, he carried her from the room and through the halls of the ships. In the dead of night, something knew what halls to take to remain hidden as they made their way down to the lower levels.

He could hear his footsteps echo the loading bay as he looked down to the scavengers’ ships that had been scrapped to the bone.

“Shame. I would have made someone proud in my life. Think of this as mercy…”

Ronan focused what energy he could as he stopped for a moment at the pod that Katja was found in. A sharp pain was felt at the back of his head as the voice became clearer.

“Think of this as mercy, scum!”

Tears fell from his eyes as well as a small tickle of dark blood from his nose. It was the fates that wanted this. He was a zealot, a parasite, claiming innocence and now the one thing in the galaxy that he could not live without was about to slip from his fingers again. He was barely able to fit in the small quarters used for rest as he laid Katja on the single cot.

She could feel his warmth holding her close. It was a dream but changing as she could feel his heart. It was crying for help, like she was sharing in his nightmare but she only held him closer as his nightmare grew.

He took the voices advice, remembering every bit of her but still not giving up the fight of whatever possessed him. His neck stained with more tears as he felt his eyes clouding over with the Xandarian close to his thoughts.

“Now you will know how it feels. Death will bring me closer to him,” said the voice as it forced Ronan’s hand to the console.

Katja jumped from her sleep as the lights blinded her from above. The smell of the pod startled her as she moved to her feet.

“Ronan?”

_“Systems online. Engines operational.”_

“Ronan!”

She ran from the quarters and the control room as she tried to search for Ronan. Katja halted as she ran into the sealed pod door with Ronan’s glazed eyes looking down at her. Ronan could hear her and see her as her hands pounded against the glass. He was powerless to try and stop the pod as it shifted forward from him.

“I must go. Farewell, Accuser.”

Katja jumped as Ronan flailed from his feet and hit the ground. She knelt as tightly as she could, banging on the glass to try and get his attention.

“Ronan! Get up!”

She felt like he was ignoring her screams as her hands hit the glass until her knuckles bled. She sobbed, feeling the pod move father away from Ronan and the safety of the ship.

_“Stand clear for hyperspace. Thrusters engaged.”_

Katja closed her eyes and waited as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ronan was jerked awake by the smell of exhaust fumes. He coughed, feeling freedom from the entity, remembering at once about Katja.

“Katja?”

He turned seeing the front of the pod push through the airlock. He scrambled forward, meeting her eyes for a moment as all he saw was hurt.

“Katja, no!”

He reached out his hand to stop the countdown, failing as the pod raced forward in a stream of light and disappeared into the blackness of space. The roar of the pods engines were gone as his shaking panting breath filled the silence.

“No…”

Ronan felt to his knees, feeling his connection to Katja gone like a torn bit of string.

 


	8. Knowhere (wo)man

 

Four months later…

 

The smell of concentrated brain stem no longer made her dizzy. She tightened the scarf to her head as more boxes came by. One hand secretly held her stomach from feeling sick as she touched each of the containers that stopped for her. Each day things got easier and she adapted to looking profession to the one that found her and saved her from the frigid space. With the wave of her hand, each was pushed along for the Collector to smile upon. The strange man stood tall, waiting behind the woman as she continued with her work.

“Impressive as always, my dear.”

“Don’t make me rip out your tongue, sir.”

Tanaleer chuckled as he kept his hand to himself but his thoughts run wild about her. At least it gave him a distraction from all last of the repairs made to the stronger ceilings of the Arena since the explosion from the last Infinity Stone that was in possession. The only thing keeping him back from her was the accord around her finger that would present itself whenever he got close enough. Her hand stopped as she looked over her shoulder.

“Since when do you traffic unshackled refugees?”

“Since these are hard times that we live by. I do have a heart somewhere, you know.”

“There’s no more room here on this shit rock.”

“I do have enterprises elsewhere. Just say the word.”

“The word. All shipping containers are cleared.”

“Wonderful,” he beamed as he clapped his hands together.

The Collector followed his pale worker through the maze of his collection, seeing her exhausted by her powers. He proudly held out his arm to her for her to grab, smiling as her weakened hand clutched his suit jacket. She was taken but he enjoyed the moments with her when he could as she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes upon.

“Have you rethought my offer, young Harding?”

“I don’t want to be in one of your damn cages, sir.”

“I have no Kree or a grandfathered Inhuman for that matter.”

“I’m not sure I qualify for both, sir. I’m still human.”

“Nonsense. All the more reason to think over my offer. You would be paid handsomely.”

“Too bad for you, I could give a shit about money.”

“Give a shit,” he pondered, “not my taste but refreshing none the less. Have some tea before you go. I would hate to have you pass out from exhaustion in the sea of miners.”

Katja was too tired to try and fight with the man as she sat at the offered seat at his desk. He waved his hand as one of the greener skinned servant girls hurried off to please her master. Katja was lucky to only be a show dog to him.

“Ten more units per box. You are well over 5000 units, my dear. Shall I keep them for you? You have more than enough to occupy one of my spaces rather than that disheveled hostel on the ground level.”

“I have nothing worth stealing.”

“Only because they fear you.”

“Good,” she huffed as she accepted the sweetened tea, “I don’t enjoy being messed with.”

“Then why work as a barmaid? I would pay more should you want to be a hostess to my collection. The studies would be strenuous but the knowledge would be more that rewarding.”

Katja smiled and began to consider. She finished her tea in peace and departed with a few of her units as she made her way from the upper levels of the Arena. She moved through the walls and made her way past the waves of bodies that drank and bet with one another. She covered her face to not get the attention of the patrons.

She turned corners and alleys to avoid the children asking for spares, not that she didn’t like the children but to hide herself as she stumbled into the nearest wall and got sick. She missed her boots and wiped the spit from the back of her mouth as she tasted the sweet bitterness of her rejected tea. Her body was having a reaction to the skin vapers of Knowhere as her immune system was adapting to alien germs. All still so new for her to remember.

Katja pushed herself upright and continued her way back to the guarded housing used for the Collector’s more important workers. His personal servants roomed in the upper floors of the arena but Katja needed grit and something surreal to keep her moving forward.

She stopped at the forward gates and showed her face as the guards waved her forward. With each step, Katja could hear the slums behind her slowly start to quiet. She climbed the mountain of spiral stairs to the top level, the only thing she really wanted. She turned the knob of her rooms and used her weight to open the heavy wood. Katja hit the door a bit hard, scaring the other woman on the other side of the door.

“You scared me! Must you enter like a savage?”

“What’s the matter, babe? I thought my brute force was something you liked. Don’t know why you’re complaining now.”

The little woman’s angry face melted into a smile as she curled up on her seat, looking to Katja’s weak body trying to close the door.

“I do like it but I wish you were like a male.”

“Scratching and sniffing at myself like I’m a dog?”

Katja kicked the door closed and tossed her things into the second room. She grabbed the nearest bottle of recycled mist and rinsed out her mouth, leaving it clean.

“I think you’d just need to pick me up and throw me over your shoulder. I think about it a lot, not you but a man, claiming me and only me as his own. The growing need to draw blood almost to the surface.”

“It’s overated, Arda, believe me…”

Katja flopped down on her bed, feeling the artificial gravity hold her to the soft mattress. She wasn’t fast enough as the little A’askavariian jumped on her and straddled her lap with a chuckle.

“Then maybe you should show me what it feels like to be taken. Your husband…”

Katja was quick to reach up and yank Arda’s head back by her hair. She could feel her mate’s fingers thicken to small tentacles as she tried to counter the pain. Katja smiled and tilted the woman’s head enough to made her try and fight.

“Baby, don’t try and tease me like that. If I wanted, I could bounce you like a ball. It has been a while, you know…”

She tugged a little harder, making Arda’s fangs appear from her gums. Katja spun herself, landing on top of Arda to make her squirm. She let go, seeing the A’askavariian’s hand clutch the bed. She drew her teeth back in and forced her panting breaths to calm. Katja could sense the pulse beating from her companion’s neck. She was able to calm her with a kiss to her skin.

“Mercy,” huffed Arda as Katja smiled in victory.

“Fine, quitter. Where you off to now?”

“There’s a few miners from the other side of the being is treating me to Narros.”

“Be safe, trollop.”

“Always, my Katja.”

Katja stayed in bed, listening to the shuffle of feet on the floors below her. She missed the freight ship that she had lived on for the few months that she was in space. At once, she thought of Korath and Nebula and…

She stopped and turned to the wall as the fading overtunnel lights began to dim for the evening. She closed her eyes and saw Ronan looking to her plain as day. It broke her heart as his hand caressed the side of her face, touching her the way he would if he was still there. Her stomach turned, not in a sick way. Something was coming.

“ _Katja…_ ”

She moaned, feeling his hands. They had to be his. They wrapped around her waist with one sneaking down to the front of her trousers. They were fitting, surprising her as his hand brushed against her skin. She lifted her leg to invite him in as he smiled from the huff of his breath.

“ _Wait for me._ ”

Katja woke, drenched with sweat as she raced to pry the clothes from her body. She gasped for breath, rolling from the weak mattress as her body hit the floor. Through her breaths, she sobbed into her hands. She pressed herself into the nearest wall and curled up into a ball to not feel the cold room around her. Katja missed Ronan and it didn’t matter if he did too, she knew she would never see him again.

-

Katja cleaned herself the best she could and hurried to the door so she could be the first out the front gate before the dirty wave of night dwellers came rushing back to ready themselves for the day. She kept her eye out for Arda as her paler friend came racing past the night crew. Katja waved to her friend, seeing a bit of a terrified look to her face. She wanted to stop but dodged the dingy swinging flesh reaching to stretch themselves out.

Katja continued on to the Arena and to the collection as she started her morning tasks of wiping and shining the many cages to keep herself busy. She stopped and wiped the sweat from her head as she realized half the day had gone by and Tanaleer hadn’t bothered her.

“He is dealing with another matter of site,” squeaked one of the female workers.

“Did he leave a note?”

“No, Miss. Not if someone destroyed one of his shipping routes. Lives were lost and priceless bits were as well. He was not happy.”

Katja had heard of the temper that laid below the eccentrics of her employer but it wouldn’t be the first time she’d been in a fight with someone with unstable emotions. Katja wrote a note for him, deciding to put herself to use elsewhere. There were always units to be made on Knowhere but she didn’t know how to operate heavy machinery and she wasn’t ready to open her legs to the miners.

Katja used the shaft ride down the Arena to change her clothes. She pulled off her scarf and jacket showing off the tunic she shredded into a halter to her benefit. She ran her fingers through her hair and twisted the mixed strands into the beautiful mess it was finally able to become. She tucked her clothes underneath her arm and sighed for her stomach to stop hurting her.

“Let’s get this night over with…”

The doors opened as most eyes went to her. They went for her wildly colored hair and the stern look that were never meant for them. There was also the many ink markings and the body that laid underneath that she never let anyone but Arda touch, sending gossip and jealousy to every single male that inhabited Knowhere.

She pushed her way through the drunken ones that tried to stop in front of her and they would always do what they could to make her scrap. Something to make the Collector’s favorite pet snap her jaws to them.

Katja made her way to one of the more free vibed taverns near the hostels so that she could leave whenever she wished now that she was on her own. She felt like she was spitting on her Nana’s grave by resorting to a waitress again but Katja swallowed her pride instead of alien dick. Better working on her feet than on her knees, she would tell herself. She rescued herself but not before the Collector did.

_She was told that he was picking through ship debris that would normally get caught in the gravitation polarities on one of his other lesser sites. She had collapsed on the freezing floor, shaking as bits of the pod had iced over. She didn’t know any of the controls on the console but she also didn’t want to touch anything. Not out to not knowing but… she was done. Her heart was beating and the only thing she wanted in the world was for it to stop._

_She saw Ronan’s eyes as the pod flew forward, leaving the ship behind. Time had gotten away from her as her fists pounded into the walls, denting them for what they were worth. She gave up after some time, wanting nothing but death. No sleep, no wishful thinking that Ronan would come for her. He had put her there in the first place. She willed the world to stop as she closed her eyes and let her thoughts comfort her from the growing cold._

_She didn’t remember the lights disabling as the freighter pulled her pod into its bay. The warm air made her open her eyes. Katja didn’t move when shadows from outside the pod were cast over her and were gone in a second as a taller, bolder shadow looked in on her. He turned his head, possibly to her visible breath._

_“She’s alive. Open the doors.”_

_The hiss of the pod doors stung her ears as the shadow stepped over her and laid on the floor next to her. Her eyes moved to his lips as they formed words but she couldn’t not hear him, all she could do was follow the black line down the middle of his bottom lip. He reached forward and touched her cheeks, spotted red from the days of crying. He tested her, touching her hand as the accord appeared._

_A smile spread across his face as he pulled the shawl from his shoulders and wrapped it around her. The man lifted her from the cold floor and into the waiting ship as he refused to let her out of his sight._

_“Sir, there is nothing else in the ship.”_

_Katja felt his eyes glued to her as he ignored his workers._

_“No supplies? Someone wished death upon you, my dear.”_

_He set her down on an impossibly soft couch as he placed her head on his richly covered thigh. She looked to her hand and the back of the light couch as her accord began to glow. The glow spread down her arm, showing off the black ink to them. The man ran his fingers through her hair._

_“The Kree seem to be losing their morals as well as their women. Such tragic beauty.”_

_It was unexpected. She heard voices in the back of her head, her natural instinct made her voice return._

_“Sir, there’s something you should see. It’s of grave importance.”_

_“What is, my child?”_

_“We need you, sir. Please this way. Your occupation for useless trinkets to be vacant, pale ash.”_

_The man sighed in relief and kissed Katja’s fevered forehead as her skin began to turn blue._

_“Thank you, child. I have never witnessed a Kree accusation before.”_

_She could feel the pulse in his arm steady as he reached for the weapon hidden in the shawl she was wrapped in. He hid it in time as one of the workers ran into the door alone. It was rather quiet._

_“Sir! There’s something you should see. It’s of grave importance!”_

_“What is it? Where is everyone else?”_

_Katja could hear nothing but three heartbeats. The man felt no fear as he comforted her._

_“We need you, sir. Please this w…”_

_The man turned his wrist up and shot the man’s neck as he cried out in pain. She heard a loud clang of a machete before the worker’s body hit the floor. There was no emotion from him but relief. The man remained on the couch with Katja’s head to his thigh as he continued to stroke her hair and acted as if nothing happened._

_“Rest now. We’ll be moving along shortly…”_

“Katja!”

She rolled her eyes and ate her fruit as fast as she could, turning from the alley where she would be alone.

“Is it one of Tanaleer’s,” she forced with a full mouth.

“Nope. Someone is asking for you.”

“They always ask. They can wait.”

She started at the main bar to serve however winked in her direction and tipped her too much. The catcalling was humiliating but there were times when she could fight back. They loved it. She moved to the empty tables spread out through the tavern, wiping what she could as she felt eyes on her. She smiled by accident but pushed it back. If they weren’t staring at her tattoos, they were staring at her bottom as she bent over the table to wipe it, storing the memory for a later time.

A slap on her ass made her stand straight as laughter surrounded her. She flung her towel on her shoulder and looked to two of the three tables in the far corner behind her. The two nearest were full of regulars just waiting to see what their little monkey would do. The third was hooded, showing no parts of his skin as his gloved hand balled into a fist and Katja knew, she knew she would not have to worry about him.

“Okay. Who was the lucky gentleman,” she asked as she placed her hands on her bun of hair, distracting the growling men as the bartender turned and rolled his eyes, “You’re only getting one chance. I’ll try and be good.”

Her eyes turned to the nearest man on her right as he shot to his feet with the biggest smile to his face.

“I heard you were marri…”

He was taking but surprise as Katja grabbed his arm and slammed the rather large man face first into his glass. His friend got to his foot as Katja kicked her foot up and knocked him back into his seat. A few of the men backed away from the table as the rest made a reach for her. Katja broke a bottle on the side of the wooden table and swung her arm to defend herself. One was cut on his arm as the last one held Katja by the throat. The hooded man pulled the man away, leaving the first man that touched her to reach for her. She reached for his arm again, forcing him down as she pushed his arm further, snapping it as he howled in pain.

Katja pushed him to the floor, ignoring the applause. She was instantly filled with anger and hurt as she felt a strong hand at her naked shoulder. She reached over her shoulder and hurled the hooded man to his back with a loud thud as she swung the nearest chair up and smashed it to pieces across his chest.

The crowd got their money’s worth as they ordered more and booed the other men from the floor. The owner came from behind the counter and pointed his weapon to the man, ready to call guards.

“What about this one, peach?”

Katja took a breath in and shook her head.

“Don’t bother with this one.”

“Really,” he asked, holstering his weapon, “What makes this one special?”

She pulled the glove from his left hand and showed off both of their glowing accords.

“It’s my fucking husband. Get the sutures, Hoss.”

The smiles turned to wonder as they looked to the man that ran his thumb over her knuckles. Katja nodded towards the other side of the tavern for a bit of privacy as he followed. She took the bandages and a bottle of something strong. She took a seat on the edge of the table and waited as he sat with his back to the wandering eyes.

Ronan pulled the hood from his face, showing the bleeding cuts and pale skin so similar to hers.

“Fuck, you’re hideous!”

It was a lie. His dark hair had gotten longer on top as it drifted to one side. The sides had been shaved and his eyes with beautiful and full of hope that he had found her. More than anything, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let him go. Still, the hurt that she felt kept her safe from her impulsiveness.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I patch you up. You don’t touch me. Then, you’ll have 100 words or less to explain yourself. When I reject your answer, you undo our marriage and you are fucking gone. You forget my face, you forget coming inside of me and you take your fucked up band of merry men and go. Deal?”

Ronan was quiet as he opened a sack at his feet. She wanted to cry as he pulled her bag out and dropped it next to her.

“The only thing keeping me from throwing you over my shoulder and reclaiming you for everyone to see is the same explanation.”

He snatched the bottle from Katja’s hand and took several gulps. He placed the bottle on the other side of her.

“Go on.”

Katja patched up Ronan as best she could and left with her bag without speaking a word to him. She knew all she was going to do was cry. The further she tried to walk away, the faster Ronan tried to catch up with her. She made the gates of the hostels, pointing to her face so they’d let her by. She could hear from the shuffle of boots as she stopped and met Ronan’s eyes.

“Katja!”

“Ma’am, do you know him?”

“Yeah, can’t you tell by the silent treatment?”

“Should we let him through?”

“How many bullets do you guys have?”

“Katja, you cannot be serious,” roared Ronan.

“You know, you’re the one that put in that pod and sent me off. Why are you are?”

“You are my wife…”

“Wrong answer.”

“You wanted me to talk and I’m ready but it’s not safe.”

“I thought I wanted to hear what you had to say but now I could honestly giv…”

She turned and vomited unexpectedly into the gutter next to her feet. Her sides ached as she sank to her knees and coughed harshly. She felt Ronan dive next to her despite the guards and rubbed at her back. Katja had wanted to push him away but him touching her eased her sickness. Ronan pushed her arms down and lifted her from her feet.

“Where is her quarters?”

The guards led the way for him as he kept his head down with Katja in his arms. Katja stayed silent and turned her head into Ronan’s chest, not knowing how much she missed him. Ronan stopped, looking around the dull dwelling as he met Arda’s eyes.

“Out,” he commanded her.

“You’re him. The husband.”

The guards looked to which would move first.

“What did you do to her? I’ll kill you…”

“Do not make me tell you again!”

Katja pushed herself out of Ronan’s arms before more got involved with their affairs. She waved the guards off, ensuring them that she could handle herself. Arda rushed to Katja feeling her head before Ronan could make a move.

“Are you sick again? Did you take something this time?”

“Get away from her.”

“Make me, Kree. I do not fear you.”

“I am her husband. Who are you to her?”

“Guys, chill the fuck out. Arda, this is my husband or he who will not be named. Bastard, this is my girlfriend.”

“You sought out companionship?!”

“Motherfucker! The moment you put me in that ship and hit _eject,_ you lost all husbandly ordering privileges. Don’t snap at her!”

“Rigor has space for me. I’ll leave you, snip, only so that I don’t have to witness his death by your hands. I prayed that this would not happen so that I could have you.”

Katja was sad to see her friend’s lip tremble. She kissed her forehead and let her friend gather her things for the night. Ronan stood his ground and keeping his eyes to the shifty little A’askavariian that had touched his woman while he was gone. The young creature kept her tongue at bay as Katja disappeared into one of the smaller rooms of the dwelling.

He took a steady breath as the door slammed behind him, leaving him alone with Katja. The sound of water got his attention as he tried to follow her. Katja walked across the doorway to the sliding window as she spit out the mist and the left over vomit that had lingered in her mouth. She craned her neck, still seeing one of Tanaleer’s ships was gone.

“You can drop your stealth act now, Ronan. No one’s looking for you here.”

“There are those in these parts that do not favor Kree.”

“Shame, they favor me.”

“They have seen your skin?”

“Yeah.”

She turned, seeing Ronan waiting for her.

“What?”

“You have been here the whole time?”

“I was found in the later stages of hypothermia. It’s human talk for freezing to death. The Collector found me and he gave me employment. I’m his pretty little guard dog that sniffs out that bad things he may not have procured. You should be lucky that Arda got to me first or else I would have started fucking him.”

“Good for you. May I explain myself to you now?”

Katja sank to the edge of her metal cot and began to pry her boots off.

“Go on.”

Ronan took a seat across from her, to keep a safe distance.

“It started with those that held us captive. When I was an Accuser, I had slaughtered her wedded. You need to understand that my people had ways to live by.”

“Move it along.”

“You killed her but her soul remained on the ship. It is from powers that are possessed by someone I thought to be an ally. I betrayed him and now he is out for my blood. She possessed me and put you in the pod. I am truly sorry for what happened, Katja. I would never let any harm come to you.”

“What’s his name? Tanaleer will protect me. I don’t know about you.”

“Thanos. He is a titan and your collector will not be able to keep you safe. He has seen your face and knows that you are mine. He will make you wish for death.”

“So you fucked me over by letting me live and be your bitch?”

“My _wife_ ,” he corrected.

“Whatever,” she huffed.

Katja fell back to the bed as Ronan inched forward to her. Her eyes began to close from what he could feel was her exhaustion. Her body was growing weary from using her powers and not resting with him. It was a common mistake of the Kree to be without their married ones. He had searched, sleeping very little as he tried to search in the direction the pod had traveled. It was only when his scouting ship had gotten caught in a pocket of gravity that he saw bit of the pod floating yards from him.

He broke free of the pull and followed the trail to the Collector’s favorite haven, Knowhere. The heart in his chest thundered as he made port to the planet, knowing that his woman was within his reach. He stopped and turned to the bit of white that had rewrapped her scarf to her head to hide the brown and purple bits of hair.

He concealed himself, tuning everything out until he felt her in danger in the tavern. He was surprised when she flung him through the air and subdued him.

“Since when do you know how to combat?”

Katja lifted her head and rolled her eyes.

“The foster system and five years waitressing.”

“You should be fine with some rest.”

“Is it a married thing?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Sleep on the floor and don’t fucking touch me.”

“Am I to assume that you have not rejected my intentions?”

Katja sat up and hurled a spare blanket into Ronan’s face.

“Don’t make me call the fucking guards, Ronan. Go to sleep.”

He watched her push off her pants and bury herself under the many covers. Ronan stripped himself and moved as close as he could to the cot. If he couldn’t touch her, he would respect her wishes. He heard Katja, give in to her exhaustion as her heartbeat began to steady. He laid on his back and held up his arm. He willed himself back to his natural form, witnessing the paleness vanish as the lights from the window dimmed. He watched the softening rays settle on Katja’s back as he closed his eyes.

_He was there but she couldn’t feel him. She tried to move_

Katja jumped at the cold feeling at her back. She turned on her bed, feeling it had grown with Ronan sleeping on the floor. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked down to him. She made her hand hover over his blue face, seeing his head turn in whatever direction she moved her hand. She was used to the hurt but what hurt her was the truth. The lies were always so constant that she welcomed them instead of the real thing and it turned to her as she tried to moved back to the bed. Her instincts needed to feel him again, any and every part, no matter how.

He had a past and he was trying to make it up to her. She could understand that. Katja poked Ronan’s arm with her finger as she tried to wake him. She nudged him harder and harder until her hand slapped at his chest, doing nothing to him as he slept soundly. Katja reached for her boot and dropped it on Ronan’s neck as he jumped from his skin and pulled the knife hidden in his clothes.

He turned meeting Katja’s eyes.

“Sorry. I tried to wake you. I don’t remember you sleeping so soundly.”

“I have not been able to rest properly without you with me.”

She tried to smile as she cupped the side of his face, making him turn his head into her touch. He inhaled her skin, trying to remain calm as he stayed to the floor.

“Come on. We both need to sleep.”

Ronan left his things on the floor and moved into the bed with Katja. He wanted so much, his thoughts were of nothing but her. Every bit of him ached for her and he could feel the same for her. If he hadn’t needed to her so much, he would have pinned her to the nearest wall and claimed her until she screamed his name.

He felt his weakened body crushed by Katja’s arms as she wrapped them around his neck. Her whole body trembled as she was overtaken with emotion.

“Please, don’t cry,” he whispered.

Katja ignored him and squeezed him tighter, easing her stomach as she buried her nose into his hair. Ronan was silent and held his woman, trying to sift through his thoughts to how he would be able to keep her safe with Thanos still alive and out for his blood.

-

Her arms ached. One of them had to be asleep from reaching behind her to grab Ronan. His arms were safely wrapped around to ensure her that she wasn’t going to let go. She turned in his arms, facing him as she knew he was just waking. His hand rested at her side as she felt him smile.

“Good morning, _Mrya._ ”

“You too, _Msra._ ”

He chuckled, turning slowly to his back as Katja followed.

“You indulge in my tongue now?”

“Not as much as I wish for you to.”

Katja swung her leg over Ronan’s lap and sat in his stomach as she looked down to him. His skin was smooth under her finger tips. She leaned down to him, kissing him before he had time to think as his hands held her close. He could feel the heart thunder in his chest and the ink resurface in his skin as it tingled in his arm.

Katja couldn’t stop as her lips stayed pressed to his. It had been so long that it hurt every bit of her and she needed more. She was slow, kissing at the long column of his neck to his chest as he tried to grab ahold of her.

“How much did you miss me, Ronan,” she whispered into his navel.

“I was nearly blind to the life surround me without your touch.”

“Were you telling the truth about _being pure_?”

“You feel guilt for taking another?”

“Well, she’s a chick so I’m not sure it really matters but if it makes you feel you better I didn’t fuck any of the guys.”

A smile speed across his face, showing off his spotless, dark teeth to her. He was mesmerized by her as her fingers hooked in the loops of his trousers and pulled down the fabric.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll feel,” she smiled as she yanked to trousers to around his knees.

His erection sprang towards her waiting hand as he hissed through his teeth. Her grip was stronger than she remembered as she twisted her wrist, looking to the ripples in his chest as he drew in breath after breath. She arched herself down and dart out her tongue, tracing the base of his cock to the tip as she tasted him for the first time. Ronan tensed underneath her, feeling the foreign tingle in his cock as he felt her tongue.

Katja moaned, wrapping her lips around his cock and sucking as her husband’s moans filled her ears. Ronan used every bit of strength to keep himself in place as he watched his terrian suck on his cock with growing vigor. He eased himself back on the bed as his hips moved on their own. The feel of her mouth was too much for words. He laced his fingers into her colored hair and guided her deeper and deeper on his cock as she bobbed her head freely.

His eyes sealed shut as he drew nearer to his release. The thought of her swallowing his seed made him smile but he wished for it to be in her womb as she screamed his name. He pulled her off his cock, leaving him wet as he was about to throw her to the bed if it wasn’t for the sick look on her face.

Katja turned and ran for the washroom with Ronan close behind her as he pushed himself back into his trousers. She braced herself on the sink as her weak arms gave in underneath her. Ronan caught her before she could fall and held her close to his chest. He felt her forehead, feeling it warm again as he reached for the shower. Under his hand, Ronan could feel her stomach rippling, perhaps in pain as Katja moaned.

“Shh,” he whispered as he turned on the ceiling spouts in the corner.

Katja tried to speak but stopped as she covered her mouth. Ronan turned her in his arms and set them on the cold, clean floor as the water fell in hot streams. He settled Katja on his lap and helped spread the water on her skin. He cradled her, whispering in her ear as he willed her to heal herself. He didn’t know how long they stayed under the nearly scolding water as Katja finally lifted her head to Ronan and brushed the wet dark locks from his face.

“I guess I have to take you back with me.”

“I can’t just leave. I’m in debt to the Collector.”

“Then I will stay with you for as long as it takes. I will not draw attention to violence.”

She turned her head into his neck for his scent as the water remained trickling down her clothes. She still needed him. Katja had no idea what would happen now that she was in Ronan’s arms.

“Where is everyone? Nebula and Korath? Where’s the ship?”

“Safe as you are now.”

She could feel him harder in his trousers. She wanted to ease him and herself. There was something carnal lingering in her bones or it could have been him but it didn’t matter as long as she did something about it.

“Ronan, what’s happening to me?”

She turned on his lap, him feeling the heat from between her legs as it drew him in. He licked his lips and tried not to sound so pleased as he opened his mouth.

“You could be going into fervor. You are new to my kind and with months apart, it could be wreaking havoc on your body.”

“Is that the change that you were talking about?”

“Indeed. Your mind and your body are asking for contact. _Procreate._ To mate but I will do my best to try and leave you in a few pieces.”

“Where’s the fun in that,” she grinned as she reached for the hem of her drenched halter.

Ronan was faster as he peeled the fabric from her skin and kissed at her chest. A simple flick of his tongue to her nipple sent a chill to her spine as her sides cramped in a non-painful way. Ronan took notice as his hands formed to her skin.

“You feel everything, you will and I will be here should you lose control. I could wrap my lips to your peaks and send you into a catatonic state if it’d please me but you need more as it seems.”

He reached under Katja to free himself and helped her down his cock with the cloth from her undergarments pushing to the side. Katja’s eyes shut as she sank slowly on Ronan’s cock, making him moan from the tightness he was so fond of. He braced both feet on the wet floor, holding his woman as he guided her, wanting her to take control of her truer Kree instincts.

He pulled Katja forward, holding her close as she dug her nails into his back. He held her close with one hand and lifted them from the wet floor. He never measured the value of his strength as he pressed her to the bed and ripped away whatever clothes was left to their bodies. The room was darker than Ronan remembered as Katja’s eyes glowed up to him. Ronan could tell how thin the wall around her were and would make himself proud to the moans that poured from his woman’s mouth.

Katja’s writhed underneath him as he did everything in his power to mark her. His tongue, his panting breath, his teeth that would be there in the morning. He could never leave her, no matter what was coming but that was what scared him…


	9. Being in your arms

 

_Her eyes opened as her whole body shook. It was nearly freezing and she didn’t know how long she’d been out. The fall from the high metal fence to the ground was well worth the fight to get out another week and she would have been free._

_She turned her head up to the bag with the only possessions she had with her. Her arm hurt as she tried to push herself up from the hard ground. She found the eyes of the Yugo waiting for her. Katja remembered gathering herself, stepping up to start a life without any authority to keep her down._

_Her head was held up high as she limped into the early morning and across the icy street._

_“Girl, I thought you were dead.”_

_“No more,” she whined as she pushed her things inside the cramped car._

_She slumped down in case any of the early morning joggers recognized her face. She wouldn’t go back to the Stevenson house or home if it the last choice. She would rather face the cruel world ahead of her than what she left behind._

Katja opened her eyes, excepting it to be cold. She smiled feeling her side constrict with the blue arms that cradled her. Ronan’s muttering breath at her neck comforted her as the lights began to grow in luminance for the new day. Katja was able to put herself away and hurry to close the shades so that they would not be disturbed. The last thing she saw was the ship of her employer landing in its spot on the top of the arena with the side covered in black soot and damaging sparks from the back thrusters. Sooner or later she would have to leave Ronan behind and go back to her semi-normal life.

She huffed her breath and sank to the floor next to her bed. She pulled the curling hair over her shoulder and pulled her prized messengers bag over her lap. She opened the metal clamps and let her hand wander to whatever was the first to find her touch. She pulled the little bent bit of her Nana’s paper and smiled. Katja could count the number of times she could have used a smoke. With luck, the next thing in her hand was a still full lighter.

The paper straightened to her approval and placed it between her lips as the end lit with ease. She inhaled and felt her Kree lung burn with no harsh cough. The smoke left her as the swirls danced in the bit of light. With each take of air and shift of Ronan waking towards the edge of the bed, things softened and started to seem not as fucked up as they were.

Ronan hated the coldness of the bed with an absolute passion. He opened an eye to Katja as she sat on the floor without him. He moved next to her admiring the parts of her flesh that were fading to blue and back. His fingertip to her skin as the blue tried to follow his moving hand. She smiled as his other hand found the small music box and opened the top with the flick of his thumb.

“This was the only thing I touched in the bag. Its notes kept me awake.”

“And now you have me.”

“You don’t feel as such.”

Katja exhaled as Ronan felt her nerves.

“He’s back. I’ll need to go soon.”

Ronan reached under her and pulled her to his lap. He began to remember her skin as if something was about to happen. All he had to do was fill the bag and his arm with her possessions and drag her out of the station without a look or word to anyone. He would run with her to the ends of the galaxy but he knew it could never happen.

The paper had shortened so quickly as she took a drag and shared it with Ronan. He parted his lips and took in the smoke from her mouth as his tongue danced with hers. His body began to react as did the last time she did this and remembered to draw in more breath as he lowered them to the cold floor. The dull setting around her smoothed out as he looked to Katja and the curls of dark hair that settled over her shoulders.

His hand cupped her face, such perfection as he kissed her.

“I never wish to part from this floor.”

Katja’s smile turned to a chuckle as she caressed his skin.

“I know, _Msya_.”

She placed the last of the paper on the floor to burn as they took in what they could, staying intertwined before the sound of pounding on her door made them jump. Ronan held onto her as long as he could. She slipped through his fingers as she dressed and left with the guards. Ronan hurried behind her, handing her hand as he disguised his flesh again.

He pulled her from the guards and held her hand, making sure she would never leave his side. He felt the deepest sense of pride as Katja tightened her grip around his large hand and tried her best to smile. He pulled her scarf higher on her head as he looked to the miners turn their heads to them. The woman that was untouchable had the back of her hand kissed by the tall, pale stranger that showed off the cuts she’d given him and he made sure he met each and every one of their eyes.

“You’re a real show-off.”

“It’s either this or I slip my hand under your clothes for all this place to see.”

Katja blushed as the two guards looked over their shoulder to Ronan. She was speechless as she pulled his arm over her shoulders.

“The Collector won’t let him in.”

“He’s coming with me or I’m refusing to go up. Y’all’s choice.”

Katja kept a hold on Ronan as she stood down her guards at the entrance to the Arena’s private elevator. With the nod of their head, they stepped into the elevator without her.

“Stay here. Don’t make us come find you.”

“We’ll get something to eat. Can’t work on an empty stomach.”

Katja pulled him along away from the clean elevator and into the sea of wandering eyes towards somewhere that served anything edible. Ronan’s eyes stayed to the elevator near the top of the lavish building, waiting the moment of its descend.

“Calm down,” huffed Katja as she settled into a small opening in her known tavern.

“I’ll make my way up if they refuse.”

“So much for violence. Taneleer never refuses me.”

“He will in my presence.”

Katja smiled and jerked Ronan forward into a kiss.

“Good.”

Ronan relished in her optimistic nature as she moved from the chair to the edge of the wall as he took a seat in front of her between her legs. He wrapped an arm around each of her thighs and looked to the other patrons. To each of their eyes was a negative glance. Jealousy, glares and mutterings were turned towards him. They would all be slain if it were under his true teachings. Any man laying eyes to his sworn one would be met with blood but laying into her as she dug her nails into his skin as they watched would do just as well.

“Don’t even think about.”

“Why think when I can act upon you?”

He knew she was rolling her eyes as she pulled the scarf from her head along with her constricting jacket. Though the Collector saw it as mandatory, she knew he enjoyed seeing how it hugged at her breasts. She could feel a ripple at her sides as Ronan reached for her.

“Stop it. I’ll be fine when I get some food into me.”

The only thing that left him with worry was the glance from the owner so keen on guarding Katja from the night before that did everything in his power to not look Ronan in the eye. He could sense something cautious like a child about to steal something precious or attempting not to get caught.

“Morning, Peach. Man of Peach.”

“Morning, Hoss. Sorry to pop in so early. Waiting on the boss man.”

“You look a bit peckish.”

“Do you have anything suitable for her?”

“Don’t test me stranger.”

“Boys. Chill. Hoss, I’ll take anything at this point.”

The green skinned little man shook his head, again, not meeting Ronan’s eyes as he buggered off to the bar.

“I don’t like him.”

“Well he’s the one I dislike least. Beggers can’t be choosers, you know.”

Katja hunched over, wrapping her arms around Ronan. He could not refuse her as her nimble fingers ran through his cut hair.

“I have missed you, woman.”

“I missed you too.”

“I would move the cosmos for you.”

“I know. Please don’t be mad.”

“Anything. I owe you so much. I’ll stay if need be.”

She turned Ronan’s head up and kissed his lips for everyone to see. She pulled away and he couldn’t help but do his husbandly duty and wipe the tear away before it could fall. They turned back to the green man as he presented a plate with a strange red blow.

“What is it?”

“You don’t have anything for him?”

“That’s for you, Peach. Got it special for you yesterday. He’ll get something hot in a little bit. Heaters’ acting up.”

He wobbled away and left them alone as Katja picked up the bit of food. Katja sniffed it as something sweet lingered.

“It could be poisonous.”

“He values his life more than my own.”

“No, wait…”

Ronan tried to reach for the food as Katja sunk her teeth into it. She stopped and closed her eyes, savoring the bit as a smile appeared on her face.

“Oh my God.”

“Tell me, woman!”

“It’s… good. Like, I-I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Let me.”

Ronan smelled the food, retching at the smell.

“What is that?!”

“Fine,” she said kissing his lips covered in juice, “more for me.”

Ronan went to wipe his lips, stopping at the sour taste turned sweet. It was like nothing he ever tasted with exception for his wife.

“Try it again.”

Ronan nibbled on it again, enjoying it as Katja took what was left and nearly swallowing it whole with a large portion falling to the plate. She licked her fingers with a smile. Ronan looked out the corner of his eye to the green man clench his fists. There was a noticeable flash of his eyes as they shifted to the back door. He shuddered as Katja licked the side of his face.

“Act like a lady.”

“I’m no lady.”

“Good.”

“Peach!”

Katja looked up to the green man waving her forward as two hot plates of food were placed on the counter. She moved from Ronan as he caught her wrist.

“Something is wrong.”

“I’m just going for the food. You’ll want to eat before we see the Collector.”

“No, it’s not that. Please…”

“Hey,” she calmly snapped as she kissed him, “I’ll be back, I promise.”

He was weak, letting her go as she weaved in and out of the tables to the food. His heart raced steadily watching her as the man stopped her before she reached for the food. He said something, making her smile as he nodded to the back door. Ronan could feel her smile as one the A’askavariian made for her. He would give her the moment with her people as she deserved. Katja followed behind Hoss as she could feel Ronan’s worry.

They looked to one another, the calm that was soon to disappear as it had been the moment he laid eyes on her. She turned through the back door and was out of his sight. Silence rang in his ears as his vision was blurred and his veins filled with nothing but alert.

Ronan shot to his feet and ran clear over the tables as he ran for Katja. He turned into the back alley, seeing Katja fight her bonds and her dazed state. She dropped to the ground and anchored herself as she threw her elbow back as broke free of her captor before another masked man dragged her away.

“Ronan!”

Ronan ran forward to Katja, stunned as his body jolted with pure pain. His rage kept him on his feet as the pale A’askavariian shot him again with an electric round. His eyes shifted to the green man as he flailed on the ground, unable to survive the shock as blood dripped form every orifice of his face. Ronan worked quickly to find the bullet and pry it from his skin. His large arm swung up and knocked the woman from her feet as her weak body hit the debris of the alley.

Ronan pulled the blaster from his belt and gave chase to the men pulling Katja through the deserted alleys of the back shops. His boots stomped faster in the ground, finding the men stopping at the opening of a large compactor in the ground.

“No, no…”

He fired his weapon, hitting the back of the head of the first man as he fell dead to the exhaust puddles. The second man held Katja’s man firmly to her face as her drifting eyes looked to Ronan. He looked to the sparrows on her arm, guiding him forward. Her outstretched arm fell to her side as the man lifted Katja into his arms and jumped into the hole below. The roars fell deaf as the siren from the compactor sealed the contents and released to the shipping haulers that remained below in the outside of space.

Ronan skid to his knees and pounded at the hard metal with his fists.

“Stop!”

He continued as a hand formed to his shoulder. Ronan was on his feet just as he was thrown form them as he looked up from the ground to the well-polished and infuriated man with white hair and an Khol tattoo on his lip.

“I am not your enemy Kree,” he snarled as he lifted himself away, “but she is gone for now.”

“No! I will go after her.”

A steady flicker of lights buzzed throughout Knowhere as Tanaleer huffed.

“They engaged their hyperdrive. They are gone.”

“Who are you?”

“The man that would have worshipped your wife if you had just died, Kree. Katja…”

“Do not speak her name in my presence!”

Tanaleer straightened his suit and nodded to his men that captured the unconscious woman from the alley.

“Stay or go. I will not care. One of us will find her.”

Ronan tightened his grip on his weapon as he slid it back into his hostler.

“I will be the one to find my wife, Collector.”

-

Her body jumped as the acid ate away at her skin. Shrieks poured from her mouth as both Ronan and Tanaleer let her feel the bit of pain on her flesh. Tanaleer snapped his fingers as the acid stopped but hummed with a harsh sting. The tentacles appeared on her hands as did the teeth that passed both lips. Her natural growling did not frighten them.

“What did she do to you?”

“Not her. Never her. She was too sweet to me.”

“You aided in the capture…”

“I changed my mind for her. I was going to take her away from this!”

“She is captured and in the depths of space!”

The snap reactivated the acid. Adra screamed as pulled at the chain that held her neck to the closed glass cell. Ronan wanted more than anything to strangle the life from her. Tanaleer promised him that; he would what but either way the Collector would have an A’askavariian for himself.

“Where is she, wench?”

The waves of pain stopped as a smile grew to her face.

“He promised her to me.”

“Who?!”

“Thanos.”

Ronan clenched his fists as Tanaleer knelt to her level.

“Is that all?”

“He is coming for you too, Collector. He knows you have a stone. Two birds, one stone, one toy traded in the badlands…”

“No,” shouted Tanaleer as he shot to his feet.

“She’s more money now, especially with what Hoss gave her.”

“What? Did he make her immorotal?”

“She is not immortal but there is life in her.”

The pale woman touched her sharp teeth and glared to Ronan.

“You will never find them before he finds you.”

Her small hand snapped off two of her long teeth and jabbed herself in the neck. Blood rained down her neck as the life faded from her body. Ronan kept his composure as he pulled the bit of food that Katja ate in the tavern. Tanaleer’s steady face drained as he saw the Kree’s hand.

“What is it? What did he do to her?”

“You were right, Kree. I cannot be the one to go after her.”

“Why?”

“This did nothing to her but put a larger price upon her head. It does not cause harm but detects. It is used for the farmers and their wives that have no doctors.”

Ronan’s stomach dropped.

“What are you saying?”

“Leave now and you may find her in time. She was not the only thing that was taken.”

-

It wasn’t the Dark Aster but it was home.

“Sir, we have permission to board.”

He looked to his right, seeing his Nebula in a trance, using every wave to check, double check every possible route to their location to make sure they were not followed. He already had too many people on board his small craft but if he was right, he would need every one of them.

A few of the Necro peeled away their armor to let their natural skin breathe and expand into their original shape. The dealers would know that he meant business. His eye would be trained to move over the trinkets that would continuously move and look for what he had taken months to find.

He donned no armor, showing he would die in a moment’s notice but he was smart. Greed would win.

“Do not engage cannons until I return. They cannot know.”

“Yes, sir.”

His hand wrapped tightly around the handle of his weapon as he marched to the other end of the ship. Preparations were ready down to the last detail. All he needed was her. He caught his reflection; pale in the mirror with the dark Kree glow in his eye. The fresh scar down his chin would add to his mystery. He held himself tall and proud ready to draw blood in the slightest moment.

The grinding of the gears to the draw door made his heart pulse. He could feel the glow of the accord around his finger. He was running out of time. He only took two Necro, knowing it would be all he needed. He ignored the cheerful look of the aged but able grey haired man as he paced to the group with open arms.

“Welcome! Welcome to the outer rimmings! If you are looking for it, we’ve got it! Come!”

He followed behind the old man, pretending to take some care in the jewels and weapons for trade. The old man enjoyed his pageantry, waving off the men with guns the deeper they ventured forward.

“Well?”

“No.”

“N-No?”

“None of this are sparked my interest. You bore me perhaps I will take my units elsewhere.”

Ronan was slow to turn as the old man crumbled.

“Wait! Wait now,” he chuckled as he clapped his wrinkled hands together, “I can tell you are a man of finer things. You are looking for something more… real. This way.”

Ronan nodded to his men as they pulled the small acid bombs and tossed the small metal orbs where they fell. He turned to the stairs below him, following as he felt weak and anger and hope. He was that much closer.

“Here we are.”

The man pressed his hand to the greasy wall, unlocking the doors to his own personal chambers. His dark eye pulled to the smell of drying blood on the other side of the quarters. The man pulled a blade from his boots and cut the woman down as her body fell weak. Her whole body was covered in dirty rags and crumpled silks wrapped to her head. Her back covered in ink and blood made his nerves settle.

“Get up,” hissed the old man.

The small kick made the woman cry out in pain as the man kicked the fresh and healing lashes marks on her back. Ronan felt every vein in his body flare at her voice.

“Who is she?”

“She is warm, willful to a fault but she’s been a fighter lately.”

“Where did you get her?”

“A pair of mercs off the sunsets of Kalyons. They excepted what I could to get for her.”

He hunched to her, seeing the forced labor of her breath. He moved his hand closer to hers, seeing nothing at first but slight flinch of her finger towards his. He knew she was weak from the pain.

“How much?”

“You haven’t even seen her all of her yet. How do you know she is what you want? What if you need to break her in.”

“I won’t need to.”

He looked to the skin of her legs covered in dirt and the pads of her feet that were cut so she would not run.

“If you are selling her then it would not have been wise to damage property.”

“Not when she’s killed three of my men. The lashes will heal but she may need a firmer hand, I hear that you have traveled a long way. The question remains to that is she worth it?”

“Every time.”

Ronan drew his pistol and shot the old man between the eyes. His frail body hit the metal floor with a thud as Ronan kept his eyes to her. He pressed a handheld disc to the surface of the wall near her head as he lifted her into his arms carefully and hurried to his ship. Behind him, he could hear the shout of more men that were alive, the wheezing of those that were shot and the howls of the Cerbers dogs let loose to tears them to shreds.

He was not afraid as he turned and stopped the dogs with a single look of dominance. The large mutts shriveled from his stare, whining as they backed away. He backed away and stood on his platform as the gates took their time to close. He looked to each of the eyes of the crew that were left.

“I have relieved you of your trading captain. You now have a chance to reflect amongst yourselves to a new way of life. You are lucky that I do not slaughter you all where you stand.”

He dropped his illusion as the crew looked to his natural Kree skin in fear.

“Pray that I do not come back and peel the flesh from your bodies.”

His fingers curled around her skin as the small ship roared back to the freighter. There was nothing to break his concentration with the ship landing safely in the loading dock. The lights dimmed overhead of him at the first rays frightened her.

“No!”

He could feel her try to toss and turn weakly from his grip but he only held her closer and lifted her from her hurt feet. She was turned in his arms so that her back was free to meet the fresh hanger air. Months shackled away in a dingy traders vessel would have made her condition worse. Nebula stood at the entrance of the hanger in disbelief as she looked into his arms.

“Sir.”

“She is home.”

“You are just going to let them leave!”

“I never said I would let them leave. I said I would not be the one to end their lives.”

“Meaning?”

She stopped Ronan, making sure that there was some justice for her master’s companion.

“I will never let her out of my sight again,” he said moving around Nebula and towards the group of waiting healers, “when I return that trading fleet better be dust for me to bathe in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ronan felt no fatigue and a boosted strength as his boots dug deeper into his ships base floors. He turned into the final corridor to the women as they spread out every bit of medicine and herbs they carried on-board. He was helped to the waiting bath as he moved into the mineraled water fully clothed. He sank to his knees carefully helping as the rags and the silks were carefully pulled from her body. The last bit of cloth was pulled away from Katja to show her bruised face.

Ronan pulled the jacket and tunic form his body, anything to make sure Katja felt the surface of his skin. Surely enough, she was able to turn her face into his freshly scarred chest as she moaned from the water. Around him, he could feel Nebula unleash Hell upon any ship that was not their own. He would have given his life to see the bits of metal and ash float past his view but he chose his responsibilities as a Kree husband.

“N… Stop,” she gasped.

Katja was dreaming again, doing what she could to get away. Ronan hurried to pull the last of the putrid rags away. Her body brought tears to his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. It wasn’t the hand marks around her throat. Not the split lip or the burns on her legs. No, it was the untouched area of skin stretching around her pregnant stomach that made him sob.

“Don’t… touch him…”

She grunted as he saw the baby move against her side. One hand held her close as the other rested to her unmarked side as the kicking calmed. He felt a slow sure movement that filled him with pride.

“She needs to be cleansed.”

Every available hand was used to clean and mend the wife, leaving her resting on her side as Ronan took over caring of her. He held his hand over a pot and slit his palm, embracing the pain as his dark blood fell into a boiling mold. He found the bits of her rolled paper, sacrificing a few to aid in her recovery. The bits of herb and paper were mixed with others, forming a strong neutral smelling paste. He tested the mixture on his hand, seeing it close his hand together. Ronan placed pillows under Katja as she slept to make her comfortable.

His shaking fingers painted the wet herbs to her back as the first few times made her flinch in shock.

“Shh,” he whispered as he made the globs generous, “sleep for me. I will be here when you awake.”

He used the contents of the bowl on her whole body, ensuring that she would be healed when she woke but she would not be the same. As much as he wished for, Katja would always be in danger whether on Earth or in any reach of the galaxy. He wanted no mixture for himself, needing his scars of anger and fallen scum to remind him of how far he would travel to the ends of existence to find her and bring his woman home in his arms.

Hours bled and the ship fell in a stasis of balance now that Katja was found and the ship was well away from what was no longer a trading convoy. He reclined back to his bed with his strong arm to hold Katja to him and off her healing back.

It was like a dream. She was there in his arms. She stirred, fighting her nightmare as she shook herself awake. There was some stillness to her. He could feel her eyes burning into his chest.

“Welcome home, my love.”

Her tear-filled eyes shot up to meet his. He smiled for the first time since he found her on Knowhere. Hers matched as the tears spilled over.

“What did you do?”

“I brought you back.”

He didn’t bring anything up that she didn’t wish to discuss.

“I’m sorry, Ronan.”

“I forbid you from finding any fault in this that you feel is your own. I should have protected you. It is my duty as your husband,” his voice faltered, showing the only bit of weakness in his entire span of life, “and that of a father.”

“I didn’t think you would find me.”

Her hand had regained a small bit of strength as it cupped the side of his face.

“No matter where you are in this life or the next, I will always find you and him.”

Her face blushed as his hand rested at the blankets that had collected at her naked round stomach. He saw her shudder for a moment, making her smile ease.

“It’s cold.”

Ronan worked the thick blanket around her arms, refusing to leave her side as her eyes began to close again.

“I have sacrificed a few of your rolled paper for your recovery.”

“Yeah, my head feels like a cloud,” she laughed as he pushed herself up and kissed his lips.

He eased her back to their bed and stroked her clean, untangled hair as she fell asleep in his arms. The baby kicked into her side as Ronan smiled.

“I will protect you as well, my prince, now that we are together again.”

He sealed his eyes once Katja was in a deep enough sleep. He felt the skin on her back tighten more as it made him smile. Ronan too fell asleep as her scent filled his nose once more. He could sense her newer scent now that she was with their child. It was the same scent from her bed chambers on Knowhere. She could unknowingly sense the change in herself.

His eyes shot open as he felt her side of the cooling bed. Ronan forced his eyes open as Katja tried to move from the bed.

“What’s wrong?”

She only answered in tears as he ran for her side of the bed. He was swift to calm her sobs. His blue arms wrapped around her as she clutched the bedsheets to her body.

“Tell me what you need.”

“G…”

“Yes?”

“Get this shit off my back,” she panted as she reached for what she could.

His fingers were faster as she peeled the dried mixture from her back, relieved that the lash marks were gone. She gasped for breath as she moved from him and knelt to the floor. Katja opened her red stained eyes to Ronan as he kept his mouth closed. She didn’t need to hear promises or sweet nothings. He wrapped the blanket around her and pulled her to his lap. She clung to him like a child as she cried. His hand stroked her hair as his mother did once and only once to him.

Ronan would do any for as long as his wife needed it. She wasn’t as strong as the Kree were but she was stronger than he could have imagined. He rocked her in his arms, cradling her so that she would know that he was there for her.


	10. From this moment

He could feel worry, fear, it was still hers. Another month and the nightmare haunted her as she slept. He could understand months in capture, fighting for herself and the baby. Ronan felt the side of her head, reaching for a cool cloth and easing her temperature.

She tossed and moaned, fighting her dreams the best she could. Nearly a month and all Katja could do was sleep. His mixture had healed her back, leaving not a line of ink askew or a flaw to her skin but he knew the trauma would still remain. He felt a slight twinge, a bit of peace as she turned to her back and pressed her legs together. He dared not touch her without her word, still not knowing what she may or may have not be forced to endure. Her breath picked up, making her nightgown strain against her fuller breasts. Ronan felt the deepest shame as he could feel himself grow hard for her and his mouth watering with each passing second.

He knew nothing of pregnancy of that in either Terrian or Kree traditions. The healers knew little and time was running out until his child would enter the world. All he could do was find a safe place for birth and wait out until Katja was healthy enough. He rested on his knees and brushed the hair back from her head. He refused to say that his marriage or his unionship or that of the consummation leading to the baby was foolish but their safety was something not guaranteed.

Ronan ordered a guard at the locked door as he made his way to the ship’s library where he knew Nebula was scouting for possible safe havens.

The door locked, making the room cold as Katja pulled her sheets higher for warmth. She could tell Ronan was gone and it was an indecisive feeling to be alone. When he was there, he was smothering and loving, nearly giving her no space to breathe with the baby. Without him, spaces grew frigid and her nightmares came back to her.

_Her wrists ached being bound so tightly. Ronan was still so fresh in her nose as the putrid and disgusting damp smells tried to make it disappear. Her stomach turned, making her want to vomit but the taste of the fruit or whatever it was, its juices lingered in her throat easing her and giving her one less thing to worry about. She was petrified for a moment, finding her hands bound above her head like the first time she was captured. She tested the sure bond of the chains above her, hearing the slow shuffle of boots behind her._

_Her head turned to the whistle coming from the other side of whatever she was kept. Her eyes didn’t look to their green and yellow striped skin or the knives that they drew but their tongues licking the edge of their flaking lips and the hands that rubbed at the front of their dirty trousers._

Ronan stopped for a moment, ignoring the words of the crew around him. There was a vegitive planet off the orbit of one of Taneleer's abandoned outposts, meaning there would be some salvageable supplies. Climate was breathable and warmth for the time spent. It was the best they were going to be able to do for the time being. He could feel his heart racing as he forced himself to carry on with the plotting of the ship’s course. He could feel her nightmares getting worse. He focused as much as he set a course for the next few months ahead.

_Katja kicked harder than she ever did as she was thrown back and forth, her clothing starting to tear everything she wore to shreds. She was free for a second as she crashed to the hard floor, having the ship rock her back into their grasp. She was held down on her knees by one of whomever they were with the other slowly stalking her, reaching for the front of his trousers._

_“If you was working for that Immortal, you must be worth a lot.”_

_“I heard you swallowed a Ceed whole but couldn’t been what got you as that.”_

_“W-What the fuck are you talking about?!”_

_The one that held her reached to her chest and gave her nipple a bold pinch. Katja felt the hurt run through her body as something foreign took its place. They both inhaled and laughed at her._

_“Oh, Darlin’”, he sighed as he traced her ear with his dark forked tongue, “Yous is ripe. Figured a gal of a married Kree would do that to you. You got life growing in you and now you gonna make us rich!”_

_He laughed as Katja gasped in disbelief. She tried to tell herself there was no way but… she knew. For a moment, she always knew, her last day on the ship and on Knowhere. The one thing to make anyone joyous now pulsed as fear and fight in her racing chest to distract them as she willed her sickness away. She knew what Ronan would have done and she knew she had to stay strong for herself and what was now a part of her. Her baby._

_She ignored the fly opening inches from her face as the one in front of her caught his cock and nodded to his buddy. Her nose was cut off for any air, forcing her mouth opened. There was a second that she choked and made them believe that she was weak enough to be used. She believed Ronan was coming for her and in the meantime, she was on her own to fight. She pulled her tongue back to be safe as the one in front of her grabbed her by her hair and forced his cock further down her throat. Once it was far enough for him to pull back, she did the considered and bit down with all her might._

_She wanted to remember the sound that was nothing but pure pain as she could taste his blood dripping from between her teeth. They swatted at her, raining their fists on her for her to let go but she closed her mouth until he stumbled back, pale and without his cock until his screams died out. She pushed everything out and felt pride run through her. There was a thrill that ran through her as she looked up to the second man._

_“You don’t get to touch me, you ugly piece of shit. That’s for my husband to do.”_

Ronan stopped as he heard the whisper of his name, he raced to the bed quarters and watched as Katja’s half open eyes flickered in and out of sleep. He rushed to her side and let the accords pull him into her dream.

_Ronan stood to the edge of the blurred images as Katja spat out the torn bit of flesh that was forced into her mouth. His hands clenched into fists as he saw first-hand what was done to her._

_She was taken from her thoughts as the second man lifted his foot and kicked the side of her face, sending her to the floor. Her whole head spun, feeling her cheek split from the force. She looked up in fury as the last one standing reached for his belt, glaring at her._

_“As long as that bastard in you ain’t harmed, you will be!”_

_“Not like that.”_

_Ronan turned his head to what may have very well been the captain of the ship. He remembered it was the first one he killed, deciding then that the slit throat that ended his life was not enough for what he was planning, had planned for his woman. His blood boiled as men rushed the open cell and tied Katja, wrists above her head to the wall and pulled her long hair over her shoulder to show off her bare inked back. He raced forward at the sight of a Caniors whip being pulled from the captain’s waist. Ronan would not see her suffer._

_He put his blue arms around her as she pulled like hell at her chains. He would never allow anything like that to happen to her ever again._

_“Mrsa,” he panted, trying to catch his breath, “This isn’t real!”_

_Her whole body jolted in pain as the shriek that echoed the walls made the crew want more. The creak of the whip tore him in two as she screamed louder but there were no words. He read her remembered thoughts and was never more proud._

_“You will not break me…”_

_Ronan turned her in his arms, surprising her as his hungry kiss to her lips made her dream vanish. At once, there was no smell, to no men willing to risk their body parts to touch her. It was only them._

Ronan opened his eyes, seeing himself pull his lips away from her as she nearly jerked him back. He didn’t see if she’d opened her eyes or not but it was enough as he was led back into their bed.

“Katja?”

She lifted her leg to his hardened cock, making his body jolt for her as her stunning eyes glared to him.

“Rona…”

He braced himself out of her reach and safely over her stomach. His mouth watered to the sight of her grabbing and pawing at herself, a hunger that licked his lips as he tore her nightgown down the middle. His tongue fell ravenous to her chest, leading her to writhe and cease her nightmares. Bliss ran through her as she fought to wake. She wasn’t sure what she wanted but she prayed like hell that he would never stop whether she was dreaming or not.

Ronan nourished himself on her breasts with her cries and beautiful taste of her skin. His hips grinded on her thigh, his cock growing harder with each push. He couldn’t stop from feeding off of Katja’s hunger to be touch. Her hand cradled the back of his head to keep him in place as Ronan moved from breast to breast, smelling her sure scent fill the room. He pulled off her heaving chest with a pop and snarled down to her. Her eyes returned to their normal darkness as they found Ronan.

She cried out in surprise as his hand shot down and wrapped around her throat. His anger and snarled lips did scare her but it only made her want him more. She gasped as his hand wrapped around her throat and held her to the bed. Ronan lowered his head into her neck and drug his tongue up to the shell of her ear.

“Katja. Your nightmares are hurting you. You need to stop.”

“I can’t,” she choked through her tears.

He pulled himself back, smiling to her as he could feel her calm.

“Now need something in place of them.”

Katja didn’t watch him undress, only keeping her eyes to his glowing ones. It was the same glow in her eyes when she saved Tivan from being slaughtered when he found her.

“What are you doing?”

“Easing you,” he snapped, gingerly stalking towards her, “In any way that I see fit.”

With the shift of his hips, he was between her legs and drawing more needing moans from her than he could count. His hand tore off the last of her nightgown first, making sure nothing was between them. Then, they ventured beneath them and stroked at her wet lips. His mouth hung open, gawking at how easily his finger slid into her, accepting him. Katja’s hands shot for the bed underneath her, anchoring herself as he pushed in another finger and pressed his thumb to her. Her chest heaved, her hands grabbing any part of him that she could.

He took his place next to her, panting with her as his cock ached between his legs. He nibbled on her edge of her neck, wishing to keep her in her present state longer. He would do this, to ease her months without him, to hear her voice piercing his ear and to claim her nightmares, leaving her with nothing but the memory of him.

“You seem to forget that you are mine, _Mrya_ , and I believe you need a reminder of that.”

He pulled his fingers away, licking them clean as her taste filled his senses. He turned Katja to her side and wasted no time as he pushed into her. His hand formed around her hip, growling as he thrusted into her. Katja felt his arm wrap between her breasts and her stomach as Ronan pulled her onto him again and again. He was stoppable. His lap was more than wet as her walls threatened to clench the life from his cock. He could feel their bond strengthen again with every dig of her nails to his skin.

“Tell me what you want, Katja.”

She anchored herself back to his thrusts, making him smile and his hand striking her on her bottom to get her attention. He enjoyed the way she tightened around with the strike on her rear. He arched his head closer to her ear so he could be heard.

“I don’t believe you heard me properly, my lovely whore wife. I told you to tell me what you want. Should I fuck you slower? Plow into you as a farmer would his soil? You were left unattended for months and I will honor my duties as your husband until you answer me properly. If not, I may just leave you in your state as you beg for me to take you.”

“Ronan, please…”

“May I’ll just tie you down and fill you until the only answer is my name pouring from your beautiful lips. The choice is yours.”

“Fuck me,” she whined as her head fell back to his shoulder.

“As you wish…”

He planted his foot into the bed and drove his hips sharper into her, consumed with her. Ronan ran his dark tongue across her pale skin, tasting her sweat as he could feel her body pulsing with pure bliss. He raked his dark teeth up the crook of her neck and biting down as her walls clenched around him. Ronan could only imagine how he looked, ferally ravaging his pregnant, wanting wife as she cried and held onto him for dear life, using her body’s reactions to draw his release closer. Their bond was damning. He never thought he’d be as he was now and was glad that he was wrong to not wish for something like this.

The feelings rushing through Katja were ones that couldn’t be described. They scared her and made her whole all the same. Her body ached the more Ronan touched her; it had been so long and she missed him. She panted, twisting herself a bit as Ronan held her close. The breath at the base of her neck, the grip at her chest and the rough fingertips at her clit made the darkness in her head vanish as the images of her months away disappeared. She remembered her mouth opening and her voice lifting as it filled Ronan with joy. Her body crashed back to his with his thigh wet with her arousal.

Ronan panted for breath as her wall clenched around his cock, making him come as he groaned with relief into her back. His head spun with clouds as he pushed his flooding bliss aside and looked to his woman. Her body heaved as she tried to find her breath. His hand drifted from her hip to the side of her stomach as he could feel the warming bond of the baby to his touch. He turned his attention to Katja as her breathing failed to slow.

Her once calm and blissful face filled with tears as she sat upright and fought to breathe. Ronan rushed to her and wrapped her with whatever bedsheets he could grab. She could not push the words out but he knew what she needed as he grabbed her and carried her to the highest levels of the ship. He held her close with one hand as he used every bit of true strength and hoisted himself up a ladder to the very top of the ship. He threw his arm up and opened the rusted hatch as they were both greeted with the dark of night of the new planet they’d landed on but an hour ago.

Ronan placed Katja on the edge of the hatch and closed the under him as Katja clawed at the metal. He dove for her, helping her upright as her heaving and her cries were drowned out by the gusts of wind that greeted the sides of the ships. The cold air eased her as she reached for Ronan’s waiting arms. He could feel a stinging pain of relief as Katja steadied herself from her harsh moments of anxiety and fear. Ronan could remember feeling the same when he was brought back form the dead, fresh from literal oblivion. He could remember the pain and the stillness of his heart as if he was still there, resurrected in Thanos’ sanctuary.

“ _His weak is not strong enough yet. Put him with the others. Why must they all turn?_ ”

_He could remember how painfully the air was pushed out of his lungs as his body was flung clear across the Sanctuary. The voices he remembered were still so clear._

_“You are what is mine, wench. Give him to me and I will make sure your death is painless.”_

_“Ha! You may be a titan but I am a Goddess! If you want him so badly, bring your sorry soul to the underworld and claim him!”_

_“Very well, may Asgard burn.”_

_Ronan opened his eyes and saw Thanos’ large body fall to the ground. He tried to move but his body was far too weak. The smell of rotting bodies under him reassured him that staying would mean his demise. He forced himself to move his petrified limbs as his body tumbled from the pile. He had never felt so much pain in his life. For what seemed like hours, he pulled and crawled through the familiar shadows until his arms screamed for mercy and his body was safe, resting for a moment at a portal used by one of Thanos’ formal children._

_Ronan pushed his Kree pride aside and thought of his own survival for once. He turned his body and fell through the portal and down into whatever hell awaited him._

His dream shook him enough to wake him as the growing dawn filled his eyes. He was not worried when Katja was not next to him. He turned and stretched as Katja sat facing the less forceful of winds. The bedsheet was tucked enough under her airs and showed off the valiant phoenix on her back. The gust lifted a few strands of her hair at a time, mixing the brown and purple hues.

Ronan moved next to her, feeding off of her content emotions to calm himself down. He pulled her back between his legs and leaned her back to take in the winds more. Ronan could feel her steady breaths ease the baby as well.

“What are we going to do?”

It was the first time she spoke without the terrifying thrill of her nightmares.

“What are you talking about?”

“None of this was thought through. We’re on the run and I’m about to have a baby, Ronan.”

Her breath wavered for a moment and her hands clutched his.

“We’ll get by, Katja.”

“Why aren’t you worried?!”

She turned in his arms, pushing back tears as Ronan found her words to be true.

“This place is safe enough for when you have our child. The air is breathable, wildlife is thriving and the solar flares block any waves that will try to lock onto us.”

“What about after that?”

“We’ll solve that problem when it arises until then,” he suggested as he laid them back, “I want a suggestion.”

“About what,” she snickered.

“A name for our child, woman.”

“I-I don’t know. I’ve never given it thought. I’m not sure about girl’s names…”

“Nonsense. I wager it will be a boy.”

“A boy? How would you know?”

“Because you already did,” he whispered into her ear, “A mother’s instinct is never wrong.”

Katja smiled, lacing her finger with Ronan’s as a smile grew to her face.

“Fine. If it is a boy?”

“I have favored Peotrick.”

“Peotrick,” she remembered the first few times it ran through her head, “That does sound nice.”

She turned in his arms as his hands canvased her pale stomach. She pulled some of her covered around him and left a kiss to his lips.

“I know you mean well and I trust you.”

Ronan pushed down a lump in his throat and looked for hope in the coming future. He closed his eyes and held his wife close.

-

The days blended together. The ship hovered over the planet, back from a hunting trip as Ronan handed off one of his kill to one of the crew. Nebula looked to the changed expression in Ronan’s face as she stopped Korath.

“Ready the cargo vessels.”

He lowered his head so no one else would hear his rough voice.

“You feel it too?”

“Just do as we discussed. I’ll look over her.”

She turned to leave only to be stopped by Korath’s arm to her wrist. He kissed her lips, ceasing his wonder to how they would feel, burning something close to humanity into his soul. Nebula slowly huffed her breath and felt a spark of where her tear ducts would have been. She cupped the side of his face and could only kiss his cheek in return. She did hold some feelings for him; there were some things Thanos could not tear from her.

“We need to hurry.”

“Then I will see you in the next life.”

“Promise. Now go. All of them, the escape pods too.”

It pained her mechanical joints and her tight wiring to leave Korath, adapting to having a sentimental feeling towards a living creature. She ran for her quarters and reached for her tools. Nebula peeled the metal panels from every corner of her room and tore open the faux skin on her stomach.

She embraced the pain of her searing flash to the new acids of her insides. She sat in front of a large mirror and tightened the bolts of their back-up plan as she willed the pain away and hurried as quickly as her skilled hands would allow.

Katja sat on the edge of her window, feeling the wonderful breeze as she cleaned herself with the fresh water Ronan got for her. Though it would be filtered afterward, the water was always crisp and comfortable the first time around. Her hand stopped at her stomach as she looked down and saw the change in herself. There were times when she felt drained from the baby but she was filled with a sense of pride as she looked down to the both fading and growing stretch marks. She could only imagine how she would have looked like in Earth, strolling down the street in her boots and her leather jacket pulled around her with no promise of closing. The dress would have been underneath it, showing off her pregnant belly and she was sure Ronan would have walked next to her in his pale disguise, holding her close and making anyone he chose jealous as he met their eyes.

“And I would do it every time,” he grinned as his kiss made her jump.

“That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

“How is our prince?”

“Still moving about. He’s been a little calmer than usual.”

“Good. We’ll be traveling for the next few days. We’re going back to Knowhere.”

“And you are absolutely sure?”

“Yes,” he sighed, “I may not like it but yours and our child’s safety is more important than pride.”

“Man, I wish I would have recorded that.”

Ronan slipped her phone from his trousers and watched as Katja pulled on her white dress she favored so much. He looked to the heaviness of the worn stitches and smiled as it indeed showed her beautiful expectant form. He was sly to capture her image with the phone as he took what he could. What he captured on the screen was easily burned forever into his mind.

“I never should have taught you how to use that damn thing.”

“Nonsense. I was promised one of your drawings, my love, but I just get your lovely womanhood instead.”

“You try being pregnant and horny as fuck, see how long you’d last.”

“I will have to guard you from the Collector in the shape that you’ll be in once you have the baby. How sumptuous you’ll be, my dear.”

Ronan laughed as he placed the phone in her hand and took in everything he could of her. His long arms wrapped around hers and pulled her close. Her feelings of carnal hunger had ceased for the time being as he leaned to the sides of the bedchambers. His fingertips brushed against her skin, turning it blue as she watched. Katja turned her nose into his chest and could smell something nervous in his scent.

She ignored it and giggled as Ronan lifted her from her feet and hauled her to their bed. There was nothing else in the galaxy that he could ever want. A worthy wife, one that was carrying his offspring. He laid down in a hopeful daydream next to her, comforting her simple pains as the descending suns were in position to hide the ship’s trip back into space.

He was met with the evening and Katja’s steading sleeping breath as he moved from the bedchambers and initiated the break of the atmosphere below. He claimed his seat in the control room overlooking the emptiness of the galaxy ahead of them, knowing something would be waiting for them.

“ _Sleeping mother…_ ”

Katja could feel a cold breath at her neck. The baby kicked into her side, something of a warning as she felt a hand at her left arm. Through the darkness of her dream, she could see her swirled tattoo glow bright enough to pain her eyes. The luminance hurt as she tried to shield herself but found herself frozen. She sealed her eyes shut as goosebumps rolled over her skin.

“ _Ah, the smell of expectance…_ ”

“What the fuck?”

“Maybe, I’ll keep you and your little bastard as pet, you, maybe more, but your beloved… oh, I plan on peeling the flesh from his body, inch by inch. Every bone in his body will snap under my boots. I will make him wish for death and I will make sure he watches you, wench, shackled to my throne.”

“I’ve seen evil, you spoiled brat. You obviously never met my mother.”

Katja gasped as her side cringed in pain with the baby kicking, moving constantly inside of her as she slinked from her bed. She ended up on her knees with a minor sense of fear running through her. She was scared from the voice but she could feel the fear from the baby.

“Hey, hey, there,” she forced as she rubbed her hand to the side of her stomach, “Don’t worry about that thing. You got mommy and daddy here with you.”

She sat herself on the side of her bed and reached for her bag. Her hands found her etching pad and what pencils she had left. Her head turned to the window as the ships rose into the upper atmosphere of the planet. She looked out to the dark of space and caught her reflection in the large window. A smile worked across her face as she sharpened her pencil and got to work. Her neck hurt after a bit, looking back and forth between her paper to add the necessary strokes and shadings.

She stopped and placed her hand on her stomach, watching herself as she would remember how calmly her fingers were settled top of her slightly cramping sides. She took as many soothing breaths as she could and settled herself back to the bed. Her fingers clenched to the bed underneath her as the pain in her sides grew to her pelvis. Katja pushed back the lump in her throat as she watched the stars outside the ship run past her vision. There was a clamminess at her shoulder, knowing Ronan could feel her pain. She closed her eyes and tried to smile.

“ _He found me, Ronan. I know you don’t want to hear this but you need to run faster…_ ”

Ronan’s heart raced as he took control of the many panels in front of him.

“Activate any functioning pods and get them to the rendezvous points on either sides of the ship now! Load them with supplies! Find Nebula!”

“Ronan.”

He could hear Nebula’s forced breaths as she staggered to his side.

“Get any healers and go to Katja. It’s time.”

“Don’t fill the pods with supplies. I have an plan that you won’t like, sir, but it will ensure their safety.”

Ronan’s ear filled with Katja’s groans of pain and words that he wasn’t ready to accept. He shook his pride and was ready to rid the shame from the blood of his actions. He shook his head in agreement as Nebula raced to find Korath and whomever wasn’t engaged with sending the ship farther into the depths of space.

With every blink of her eyes, time passed. Her body pulsed with a numbing pain but she wasn’t sure if that was how to describe it. The more her lower half hurt, the more excitement seemed to surround her. With a minimum crew, the ship was relaying on fuel or whatever kept it moving. Through the excitement, healers fled to her. Katja was changed and placed on a freshly made bed in the healing room. Her belongings and her drawing for Ronan were left behind in their bedroom, leaving Katja to herself and the baby. A vial of dark liquid was brought to her lips as she swallowed the bittersweet liquid of whatever it was blurring everything around her.

Her lungs filled a bit easier with air and Ronan could feel it too. Hours had gone by and he could feel everything. There was fatigue, pain, and growing anticipation. Ronan ordered the helm to another and ran. He stopped at the bedchambers, propelled forward back into the corridors by the darkness to the healing chambers as his sides began to curl.

“No! Wait for me…”


	11. So long and goodnight

Katja rolled from her side away from the hands that were once so afraid or prejudical to touch her but it could have been fear of Ronan or her sides pulsing from the baby.

“Stop for a moment, jeez…”

She eased herself to the cold floor as she settled on her knees. Her mouth opened with a heavy groan falling from her lips. Her heart beat sped as her fingers curled around the edge of the mattress, clenching it for dear life. There was a drop of sweat making its way down her head as the sound of heavy boots were heard in the hall outside. She opened her eyes to her skin fading to blue with the accord appearing solid at her finger.

Her eyes met the metal as a faint calming sensation rolled up her arm and moved through her body. Ronan rushed into the healing quarters as the older women hurried to change the wet sheets from the bed. He hurried to Katja as something strange smelling dripped down her leg. His hand reached out for her as her own blue one gripped the life from him. In an instant, he could feel the blood flow being squeezed from his whole hand.

“Katja. We must get you on the bed.”

“I-I can’t,” she forced out through her labored breaths, “It’s not safe…”

Ronan jerked her head towards him and was met with a dark beautiful gaze to make his soul rip in two.

“He is coming whether we wish it or not. It is time and I will still be here. _I_ am here. Come.”

Katja shook her head in agreement as Ronan shot both of his arms underneath her and lifted her to the clean bed. He moved himself into the bed behind her and wrapped his arms under hers. He knew from the increased rush of the healers and the raised shouts that the baby was coming in their world quicker than they had hoped. Katja tried not to rock herself as she was pulled forward to the edge of the bed. Her head spun, trying to keep up with whatever language the healers were screaming to her. Everything was blocked away from her as she pushed out of instinct.

There was a small kiss to her shoulder as she forced her eyes open. Ronan pushed her sweating colored hair back, doing whatever he could to comfort her. He didn’t pay attention to the tears that were slowly filling his eyes.

“My love, you need to push. Just hold onto me and push now! You can do this.”

She steadied her shaking arms and braced the mattress with her feet spread apart.

_“Why would I want a baby if no one will take the fucking effort to stay with me?”_

_“Don’t you want a little thing of your own?”_

_She was 15 and the boy she was running away with left her at a truck stop with only a bag. Her hand clenched the only $5 she had to her name. Her cuts had stopped bleeding but her clothes were beginning to smell. Her nana, the only person she wanted as family drove three hours, glad that she’d broken out of her state home. She could couldn’t help but cry in the passenger’s seat as her nana’s wrinkled hand formed warmly around her dirty jeans._

_“Fuck him, baby, and fuck those people that call you their child. You will find someone one day. That is a fucking promise. Don’t make those bastards think they are right…”_

“You are going to be alright. You’ve come so far, Katja.”

A single healer nodded her to Ronan as things were still for a moment. He looked to the tensing muscles in Katja’s legs and her strong arms as she braced herself to push. Through his years of training and studying as an Accuser of the high ranking Kree, the men were always independent of their women, only needing the minimal of contact, both physical and intimate as were the way of their people. He pushed their impossible rules aside and started to picture a future, any fraction of one as Katja screamed and pushed forward one final time.

Ronan winced as a bone in his hand popped but the sight in front of his eyes made it seems so small, just as his tiny wailing son as his little blue arms and legs flailed with life. Tears steamed from his eyes as Katja let go his hand and reached forward to the baby. The healers were quick to clean the baby and wrap him to perfection.

Katja was petrified as her stiffened arms tried to hold her son. Ronan could feel her fear and confusion. He cupped the baby’s face, calming him as his cries began to cease.

“He is perfect.”

“I-We have a son…”

She knew her body was weakened as she laid back on Ronan. He reclined to the pillows behind him, holding his family in his arms. He looked to her calming paling face, his breaking heart as his bones started to hurt. The ship wouldn’t be fast enough. He forced a smile and kissed his wife’s sweating forehead.

“You did so well. Look at him.”

“I a… Peotrick… He’s so tiny.”

Katja brushed her finger to his cheek, making his pale blue eyes open. She smiled as she looked to her baby, wiping the drying tears away. He turned his head up to Ronan as a stretching smile began to gladly hurt his face.

“Welcome to the world, little one,” he whispered.

The baby opened his mouth and gurgled with a smile. Katja closed her eyes and was sure that if Jackie were alive, she’d be proud. She would have clashed heads with Ronan but they were both strong headed and would have loved Peotrick as she did.

They stayed together as the healers cleaned the mess from the birth, scurrying away as Ronan was left in the darkness with them. Peotrick was the first to close his beautiful eyes as he rested against his mother’s chest. Ronan could feel the strength return to her body as she held both him and the baby as she slept soundly. The sound of their breathing calmed him as he closed his eyes. He never wanted the warmth from them to end.

His ear rang for a moment as he moved lower to his back and moved the baby between them. Peotrick’s hand wrapped around one of Ronan’s long fingers, making him smile.

“Things are not guaranteed safe now but I promise you that you are protected and will be loved until the end of time.”

He bent his head down and kissed the warmth of his son’s forehead. He looked down to the impossible image of something he was sure would never come from him. Something innocent, stunning and worth so much possibility. He rested his eyes for a moment, wondering where to take them all, how safe a few planets actually were.

A cry woke him as he turned to the empty bed while his heart raced with worry. His head snapped up, relieved to see Katja rocking Peotrick asleep across the room. He moved from the bed to the cradle hanging form the wall. The bolt work was Nebula’s. He saw Katja cringing as she laid Peotrick back to the soft looking mattress and fixed her gown. She looked over her shoulder at the last second, finding a smile to his face.

He found himself relished in the moment of his healthy, sleeping child and his beautiful wife despite her skin returning to its normal coloring. The newer scent of her filed his nose as he buried it into her neck. Katja giggled as softly as she could.

“What are you doing,” she whispered.

“Waiting,” he sighed.

His hand however couldn’t. Her body was taking its time to recover from the birth but she was too stunning to be ignored.

“Seriously, can’t you wait for a week?”

“I would do no such thing to harm your body after presenting me with a life so pure but I would hate to leave you unattended.”

He moved his hand up from her thigh and pressed it to her clit through the gown. Katja let go of the cradle and clenched Ronan’s strong arm. His teeth raked her skin as she pushed herself back into him with a blush to her beautiful pale skin.

“Not here.”

“As you wish,” he chuckled.

He was quick to wrap his arms around her and sweep her to their bed. He was no sooner over her the second he dropped her to the mattress. His lips refused to leave her skin. His large blue hands pulled at the fabric of her nightgown. His hunger for her numbed away whatever was bothering him in the back of his mind.

Katja’s moans filled her ears as his tongue drug across her sweet, tantalizing skin. Her legs parted to him as his hips sank down and grinded lightly into her. His heart raced wildly and he could feel a growing pinch in the side of his jaw. He forced himself to stop as he looked down to his woman, his whole life, his reason to live. Her beautiful color collected at her shoulder with the last bit of purple strands rolling slowly from her naked chest.

His heart slowed as he looked from her heaving chest and into her eyes like it was the last time he would see her. Again. As much as he wished it, he could not hold onto the image of her forever. The caress of her hand calmed the side of his face and he knew everything was going to be alright. It was all a dream to make the reality around him easier to stand.

“Ronan?”

From the side of his vision, he could see the glimmer of both accords around her finger and he could remember as he was remembering her face.

_It was barely a whole day since Peotrick took his first gasp of air when Ronan returned from the bridge. All was quiet and he could tell from the look on Nebula’s face that time was becoming precious. He stopped in the doorway of their bedchambers as Katja was adjusting to feeding a starving Peotrick naturally. He finished, leaving her to hold him to her chest as she wrapped him in her own gown._

_She pushed herself down the bed and relaxed as she brushed the small bit of his hair back. He moved next to their shared bed and watched as she rocked him to sleep with a silent lullaby. His hand found the drawing of herself with her around, calm around her stomach with Peotrick still in her womb. He tried everything in his power to smile. Katja looked up to Ronan, to the sadness buried deep into his eyes._

_“What’s wrong?”_

_The ship was sent into darkness before he could answer. The movement in his body had never been so smooth as Ronan folded the drawing and tucked it away into his boot. He rushed to Katja’s side._

_“Ronan, what the hell is going on?”_

_Peotrick woke, fussing as the ship rocked with some force. Katja made sure the baby was safe as she could feel Ronan pull her to the edge of the bed. A blanket was snatched from underneath her as he wrapped his baby to perfection and placed him in his woman’s strong, trembling arms._

_“He is here and he’s coming for us.”_

_“So, what? Are we running?”_

_“No. You are. I am buying you more time.”_

_“No!”_

_He could remember Peotrick’s fussing turn to wailing screams as the ship shook from a blast near the starboard of the ship. Ronan wrapped himself around the bed, protecting Katja from the falling rumble of the ceiling as hard stone struck his back and his shoulders. Nebula ran into the open doorway with a lantern as her dark eyes met Ronan’s._

_“It’s time.”_

_“I know.”_

_Ronan turned back to meet Katja’s panicked tears and pried the accord from his finger, pushing it to Katja’s. Both accords blended in with her skin into a shimmering, silver tattoos around her finger. He held Katja’s face into his hands and tried not to break down._

_“Go with Nebula. I will find you.”_

_“No,” Katja sobbed, “I can’t do this again. I got you back again!”_

_“Stop it,” he roared to mask his hurt, “You are Kree now. You are a mother now and I will not part from this time without you again. You protect our child and I swear that after I kill Thanos, I will find you again and nothing will stand between us.”_

_He kissed her lips and placed her bag by her side._

_“If you die, I will never fucking forgive you. You better come back to me.”_

_“I swear.”_

_He pushed himself from the bed, keeping each shift of his eyes to Katja and their baby. He saw her push her tears back as Nebula pushed a detonator into his palm._

_“He is already aboard.”_

_“You keep them safe.”_

_“Yes, sir. It has been an honor to serve you.”_

_Ronan turned and ran for the blast and explosions floors above him._

“Accuser!”

A boot to the side of his head made him cry out in pain as the marked group of men gathered and laughed around him. His pain would have given Nebula more time to get Katja and their child away and he would take in every bit of pain that he could endure. Blood poured from his face and it would only be a matter of time before one of his bones would break, something that would upset Thanos if it wasn’t done by him. Another boot landed in his shoulder as he heard a crack of one of his bones.

“Enough!”

His cough of pain brought a smile to a few of their faces as a heavier set of steps wondered down the hall to him. His oxygen was cut off as a large purple hand wrapped tightly around his neck and lifted him from the floor with ease. Pain and fear coursed his whole body as Ronan looked into the ready Hell that belonged to the eyes of Thanos.

“Hello, boy. You look different. Perhaps it was the weakness of warm flesh.”

Ronan choked, knowing his death wouldn’t came so swiftly. The detonator was still intact in his pocket as Thanos nodded over his shoulder. Ronan could hear Korath’s labored breathing as the machinery in his body was tossed to the floor. His blood fell to the hard floor along with Ronan’s as he met the lone, unswollen eye of his loyal soldier.

“It is done,” Korath whispered under his breath.

“We found him messing with the wiring leading down to the lower decks of the ship.”

“Gather whom you can. I don’t care how many pieces they are in but bring me the whore and the bastard. Now.”

Waves of Thanos’ men raced down the main corridor to the main doors of the shaft that would lead them to Katja. Ronan’s bruised hand reached into his pocket and pulled the detonator. Thanos turned his head at the last second, noticing the familiar look of defiance in the Kree’s eyes as his blue thumb pressed down on the lone blinking light.

Nebula held Katja close as the floor above them shook with great force.

“They are cut off. Come. We don’t have time.”

Nebula took Katja’s hand and led her to the lower levels of the ship. Katja knew she was in shock as she held Peotrick as close to her chest as she could bear. Her heart broke as she felt her baby’s tears on her skin. Her body still ached from the day before with Nebula taking notice.

“Here.”

She took the baby from her arms, making Katja move a bit faster until they ended up in the hanger. Through the fear, she could remember back to her earlier days on the ship. The bits of twisted metal in the places where she ran, she hid, Ronan so close to her before she was pregnant. The ship passed behind her in raising smoke and she knew she would never see it again in one whole piece. She wished it only for Ronan.

“This way.”

Nebula kicked a rusting part of the wall to a foul-smelling hall where a lone white container sat surrounded by trash. She flung the bag to the floor and slapped Katja to get her attention.

“Take it back,” she urged as Peotrick wailed louder.

Katja took the baby back as Nebula’s fingers raced across the side of the contain, pressing buttons that lit up from corner to corner. She stopped for a moment and pulled a needle from her pocket. Katja almost jumped from her skin until Nebula wrapped her hand gently around Katja’s arm.

“It’s for the stasis. He’s too young to survive.”

Katja shook her head and watched as Nebula injected the baby, making him calm in a matter of seconds. Her metal hand traced the baby’s cheek, killing to see it sleep so peacefully and not worry about what was ahead. Katja could see some sorrow in Nebula as she looked to Peotrick.

“Something so precious. You need to protect him until we find you.”

Her head turned up to Katja.

“You aren’t coming?”

“No.”

She turned for the ready escape pod as its engines roared to life.

“Why not? You can’t stay here to die!”

“This isn’t negotiable, Katja. I have nothing left to give or feel. If I could, I would have stayed with Korath but there was too much that Thanos took from me.”

Katja looked to Nebula’s wiring and could only imagine.

“So what do we do?”

She took the sleeping baby from Katja and placed him gently on the bag.

“You need to trust me,” she ordered as Nebula reached for a blade in her waist band.

-

Ronan’s body rolled with pain but he knew it would stop soon so Thanos could inflict it worse. An alarm roared through the ship as Thanos turned to the flashing lights that hid Ronan’s smile.

“My lord, a launch pod is escaping through the air lock. Its thrusters are close to reaching hyperspace.”

Through the front view of the ship, a dark pod sped away from the ship with trash and useless containers falling to a passing planet as a scowl crossed his face. More alarms filled the control room as other pods launched from various directions of the ship. Thanos didn’t know about the crew that fled the ship hours earlier and Ronan only prayed that Nebula’s plan would work.

“Mark the pod for any signs of life and bring it back. I want that woman!”

“No…”

Thanos turned and kicked Ronan across his face. Ronan did what he could to stay conscious but the pain was too much to bear. He thought of Katja as he could feel her ease her racing heart. Through the weakened connection, he could hear Peotrick’s sleeping breaths and knew in his heart that they would be safe.

Thanos left the Kree where he was and waited with baited breath as the first escape pod was disable and pulled back with whatever remaining tractor beams survived from the attack on the ship. His subordinates raced for the hanger to the pod as Thanos stayed behind and waited. He sat in the main chair he was sure was Ronan’s as he laid still on the floor beside him.

“I wonder what was so special about her. Perhaps I’ll train your bastard early on the importance of obedience.”

The returning marches of his men made him smile. The doors were shoved open as Thanos saw a feminine shape be dragged in as her blue skin clashed with her dirty white gown nearly torn to shreds.

“Where is their bastard?”

“She must have hid it. We think she hid it somewhere.”

Thanos chuckled as he rose from the main chair and stopped in front of the gasping woman. Ronan forced himself awake as he heard her chuckle. Thanos stopped and pushed the brown and purple cut strands from Nebula’s bloody face.

“Hello father. Miss me?”

Ronan remembered Thanos’ angered shaking limbs before he passed out.

“Got them all on board my craft and follow those pods. That whore is on one of them and none will rest until she is found.”

“The ship, my lord.”

“Turn it to ash.”

Ronan could let the ship go. Those that chose to stay behind had nothing left to live for and wanted to out with a fight. Korath was disabled and Nebula’s plan worked for the time being. He slipped again, feeling cold but it was Katja and the atmosphere around her.

Katja could barely breathe as she clung to the padding and the baby between her arms. Nebula’s suit constricted her sides and her post birth body wasn’t helping as she forced herself to breathe for whatever was ahead. Rushing winds of breaking atmosphere hurt her ears as her skin reacted to the changing pressure. She locked herself down and pulled down the protective covering in the corner like Nebula had described to her. Within minutes, her sides crashed into the covering as the container rocked from side to side.

She turned to the sound of a hiss as she pushed off the covering and took in as much fresh air as the container would allow. She held Peotrick close to her as she stood up and looked out the top to the growing morning sky. Around her was nothing but a dark, fresh smelling ocean that spanned out as far as her eyes could see. The wind rolled from the water and played with her shortened brown hair that was cut just shy of her neck. Near the edge of the stars, she could see the outline of an explosion and the trail that led away. Ronan was in danger but he was alive and that was enough for her. She jumped as the top started to close around her.

“No, no, no. What’s happening?”

She didn’t move fast enough as the container sealed itself and slowly filled with a soft mist.

“ _Katja…_ ”

“Ronan?!”

She looked around the empty container to find his voice but it was unless. The mist reached her skin, making her feel numb as her eyes began to feel heavy.

“ _Just sleep, mrya._ ”

“I need you. We need you here. I’m scared…”

“ _I will always be with you, just stay alive and I will find you._ ”

Her eyes shut as the mist filled her lungs. The sides of the container beeped as the covering surrounded her, safely wrapping around herself and the baby. Katja felt like she was tucked into bed like Jackie used to do when she was younger. Everything calmed around her and Ronan found it tolerable as he used the last of his bond with her to indulge himself in her comfort.

He touched her finger where their accords rested as both ring lit. Katja felt his thumb run over her skin.

“ _I am about to live through the hell Thanos promised me. You will hold the most of the bond that is ours. You will only feel my thoughts when I am strong again. I will see and feel only so much._ ”

“It’s not enough…”

He felt himself fading and it was worse than any defect hadn’t ever suffered. He wrapped his arms around Katja, feeling the baby’s heartbeat in his veins as he kissed Katja’s lips one last time.

“I love you, Katja.”

His image was fading fast as clouds filled her senses.

“I love you, Ronan. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Always…”

And like that he was gone and the last thing she could feel was Peotrick shift in his sleep so that his head rested on her bare arm. She gave in and waited as the mist put her and her baby’s cells into frozen stasis. The bio-container floated along the endless ocean, drifting into the morning waves with its cargo protected from the harsh tides.


	12. Moving forward

He sealed his eyes and was glad that Thanos chose to spare him for the moment or else he would have gotten sick of his pain. Behind his eyes, he saw her. He always envisioned Katja in any form, carnal or as plan and dull as day, tied bare or clothed and hold their child so that his suffering was eased a fraction. Ronan lost count of the days and the others that were in the cells near him. His bones were familiar with the strength of Thanos’ fury but soon it would all be over.

Whatever thoughts weren’t of Katja and their son, they would be of his failing to will his body to repair itself. As time went by, his bruises took longer to heal and his words became more erratic. Katja was safe and no matter how much blood the titan made him draw, he would know that his wife was safe. His heart was failing him as he laid bleeding out and internally, so close to death. His heart broke, feeling he may have had to break his promise to Katja, never to see their son or her ever again.

His sight blurred, seeing the rock cell around him dance with shadows and light. He couldn’t keep track of time with the days bleeding together. Another bone to snap, more dark blood to fall for the floor.

He woke with a hit to his head and his large body pulled along for only more pain and suffering. It wasn’t that he didn’t deserve it. He was a radical bastard long before he’d met Katja. Flickers of doubt crossed his mind many times.

“Fear not, child of Kree.”

It was a voice that did not belong to Thanos or one that he had known before. It was almost comforting; a male’s tone that was similar in content with his wife’s. The voice appeared again and so that it would hurt less. He forced his unswollen eye to see a flicker of an illusion staring to him. One moment, a bruised young man with hair as dark as his own soul had once been, and another, he turned aged and weary as a single golden eye looked to him.

“Our freedom will come soon enough…”

A hard hand struck him awake again as he coughed out the blood lingering in his mouth. Ronan’s painful groans echoed the sanctuary as Thanos began to smile less. He longed to stomp the Kree deep into the recesses of his domain. His body was dragged through the valley beneath him and he was growing tired of accommodating to the Kree traitor’s anatomy. Thanos waited on the edge of his balcony as he looked down to Ronan stretched as far as his limbs would allow.

His eye opened again, seeing he golden demon titan looking upon him. The humming sound under his chin turned his attention away as several large needles inched closer to his skin. His head was forced back as Thanos’ voice rang clearly in his ears.

“Now you will know an eternity of hell, boy…”

The voice in his throat was unable to scream in complete agony as the needles pierced his skin again and again.

“ _Worry not…”_

He forced himself to focus on the voice.

“ _Find the Midgardian, child…”_

Ronan involuntarily saw his one, his Katja. He knew her and his child were safe enough after all this time. He saw her hair still far and long and miscolored as it cascaded down her tattooed back. She turned to him at the feel of his shoulder. Katja had a moment to gasp in surprise as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back to the sheets. He knew her mind went for their baby.

The touch on her cheek was very much real as was the scent of her hair and skin. His lips caressed her neck. He would never forget it. Her skin prickled with feeling as she felt air sting her lungs. Something was wrong. She could no longer feel Ronan.

“Trash, trash. None of this is worth anything. Keep looking before we leave out.”

“Yes, sir.”

There were many things to do on the barren wastes of Contraxia. Machina brothels as far as the eye could see and it was a better dumping ground for those needing to let off the weight that they needed. Ravagers stayed behind, grown bored with the laughter and harbor liquor to keep them company. A shift changed as the tired ones before shuffled back to the ships as the rested, perturbed ones stretched their legs for the hours ahead.

There was a shoulder here and there that were pushed aside. Voices rose and guns were cocked. Punches flew through the air as the Captains were forced to break up their people. A single pistol fired into one of the frozen lakes on the edge of town causing the hundreds of men to watch the cracking ice beneath them.

“Who in the hells fired that?! Guns down!”

They all almost turned for their business when the ice hundreds of yards ahead of them spilt open with a strange heat to melt the snow before it would hit the ground. A worn bio-container appeared from the cracked ice as more heat reached the edge of the lake and melted the ice back to dirt. Its’ walls of scorching heat dimmed to a bearable sight. The men stared in awe as the container hit the side of the land, stopping safely.

“What the hell are you doing? Get it now!”

The men boarded scouting ships and gathered what equipment to pull the container further onto land. The large white bin cooled the more snow it was covered in. The fatigue soon disappeared as the captains stepped through the crowds of their men to properly examine the lit panels.

“Six years? Well, seems this piece of treasure is now as good as ours. Let’s get it opened!”

The captains left their Ravagers to work on the bio-container so they could celebrate the coming money they would get from their future findings. Raised voices from behind them stopped them as they reached the edge of the closest clamoring town as attention was brought their direction.

“Sir!”

“Just get the cargo to the barter station.”

“Sir! The barter station will turn us away.”

“Why would…”

The captain turned and absent mindedly looked down to the still frozen young woman with long flowing hair that rained behind her. Her blue skin was covered with bits of frost and ink.

“The hell?”

He pulled the covering from her frigid arms to see a small baby tucked away in her grip. The concern of the growing crowd forced them to shuttle her inside and into the barracks of the Machina’s workshop.

Katja could feel the world moving around her as she felt her arms forced apart.

_No. No!_

She felt the warmth of her baby gone as everything around her felt like a nightmare. His cries filled her with fear and forced the stinging breath in and out of her lungs. Her lashes stuck together but she could feel people around her and holding her fucking baby.

“You know the code. No dealing kids.”

“Think we can raise him better than Yondu did with Quill?”

“Pro’ly. Look how cute he is. We can give him back to the Kree war slavers.”

Peotrick wailed louder as he was handed from one Ravager to the next. Katja stumbled to her feet and launched herself forward onto one of them. She could feel the snap of two necks as she turned and heard the cry of her baby behind a closed door. Her hand wrapped around one of the Ravagers guns and set the firing rounds to the highest explosive round.

Stakar Ogord poured a round around the table for each of the other captains that rallied for the loss of Yondu. Well, they would when the rest arrived in a few hours. For now, he wanted to be with someone special

“Five years,” he beamed, “a record of new beginning for the team.”

“Then why are we the only ones here?”

Stakar took a shot of liquid for himself before pouring another for his woman, Aleta. She smiled and downed the shot her lover set before her.

“Just some time to reconnect, just the two of us like old times.”

“The _old times_ was what disconnected us.”

The moment so easily turned sour as Stakar tried to smile. He enjoyed their time when he could.

“We’re still good for business.”

“Always good for business,” she smiled, giving him some hope for a remaining connection after so many years apart.

“Here’s to stealing shit.”

“To stealing shit.”

A loud explosion rocked the bar as many of the patron screamed and took cover. Stakar and Aleta rushed to their feet as their ears filled with screaming orders of their men. Stakar lifted his boot and kicked open the brothel door as their men had their guns pointed to a young pale woman panting in anger. Her gun was pointed to one of Stakar’s men as his own pistol was pointed to something in his arms.

“Don’t think I won’t kill you.”

“Don’t think I won’t kill it.”

Stakar fired a warning shot next to the Ravagers head, making the baby wail louder.

“Why don’t we all just lay our guns down and talk this out?”

“I want my baby.”

Katja coughed some rough vapor from her nose as she was distracted as the Ravager kicked her gun away. She stood terrified as the Ravager cocked the gun to her face. He smiled as the tattoo on her naked arm glowed.

“A purist goes for a lot of money in the right places.”

Aleta rolled her eyes and moved quickly through the crowd. Her eyes went for Katja’s changing skin. She’d never known a hybrid before but certain fascinations would wait for the time being. Stakar slid through the crowd with his hand to his gun and waited for Aleta. Katja met her eyes as she looked to the Ravager and pointed to her own self, then to his neck.

“Look, just give my little boy. Please…”

Stakar saw Aleta step forward and pulled the gun up. Aleta wrapped her arm around the Ravager’s arm and twisted it up as the baby slid from his arm. Katja sprang forward and snatched Peotrick to the safety of her arms while her body hit the dirty metal floor. Aleta tossed the Ravager over her shoulder. The throw was mighty enough for him to spin up through the air. Stakar blinked as his gun fired and put an empty space between his former worker’s eyes. The heavy dead body hit the floor in a wet thud. Onlookers were silent as Aleta stripped her long coat and covered Katja.

She nearly jerked the woman to her feet and pulled her to the nearest room that had a breakable door. She was stopped as Katja kicked up her foot into the woman’s face, knocking her down. She coughed her pain away.

“Look. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“It’s happened before and I’ll fucking gut every last one of you if you fucking touch me again!”

Aleta looked to her shaking as one hand slowly rocked her crying baby and the other with pointed a knife in her direction. Aleta undid her uniform and placed as many of her weapons on the ground as she could. She stripped the outer layer of herself so that she wouldn’t seem as threat.

“Please, let us start over. You have my word that these events were not supposed to unfold. What would I have to do to make sure that this will not escalate?”

Katja felt a great amount of discomfort run through her body. Her legs and arms were rubber and her sides still hurt like she had just given birth. That was when she thought of Ronan.

“I-I need to find my husband.”

“Is he here?”

Her hazed thoughts remembered the last time she saw him.

“Where am I?”

“Contraxia. An outpost for outlets you could say.”

Her ears were filled the soft techno music from outside. Over the rough looking woman’s shoulder were other types of creatures and identical yellow and silver robots that all looked to her.

“Your name? I am Aleta. He sounds hungry.”

Katja looked down to Peotrick as tears stained his perfect blue face. His small fists clutched at Nebula’s suit that was straining her post-birth body and her aching breasts.

“Katja. My name is Katja.”

“That’s good and his name?”

“We aren’t there yet,” she snarled.

“That is fine.”

“Aleta!”

Stakar stormed the room as Aleta shoved him back into the hall before Katja could react. Katja tried to keep her head on straight as she looked to the frozen scene around her. She remembered the sea that stretched out around her and Ronan’s voice.

_I love you…_

Katja emotions rushed out as she clung to her baby and pushed herself between the bed and the wall.

“This place has rules and she was disoriented at best.”

“Sir, please.”

“Let her stay and I will invite the other factions of Ravagers back. You have my word.”

The Keeper of the Machina brothel forced herself to nod and turn to deal with other matters of the establishment.

“Now what?”

“That was one of your undisciplined men with a weapon pointed to a newborn. She’s coming with me.”

“That was my man and for that, I’m granting her passage to my ship.”

“She woke, thought she was being captured again and I doubt it was a group of females that put her to slavery.”

“That makes her cargo, her and the baby.”

Aleta rolled her eyes again.

“Were you really not paying attention? She had Purist ink on her arm! She belongs to a high Kree husband.”

He arched his lip up, remembering freeing Yondu from the Kree.

“No. I know that look. She wasn’t forced into marriage. Kree don’t do that. For now, she stays with me.”

“Ah, which Captain do I speak to?”

Both turned their attention to one of Aleta’s female group as she held a copied manifest of the box. Aleta snatched it first and read it top to bottom as fast as her eyes allowed.

“Six years,” she huffed, “my women were mothers. She stays with me.”

“Is that all you’re gonna say?”

“Stealing shit was fun. Now we go back to how things were before.”

Aleta shut the door and pushed the heavy bed to keep it that way. She turned for the pale Kree and her loud baby. She stooped down to their level and wiped away a fraction of her tears. Katja snapped herself awake as she looked to Aleta fixing the coat to cover her chest for the baby. She took over and worked herself from the suit.

Aleta sat on the bed as Katja helped a starving Peotrick eat. Katja kept her eyes to the flashing lights outside the large windows.

“Who are you?”

“I don’t know…”

The suit fell down her back but she felt like she didn’t care. She was scared and tired and… safe as her eyes closed. Aleta moved to the floor and carefully wrapped her strong arm around Katja so she would not hit the floor.

“It’s been six years. Everything is going to hurt for a few days. We have the means on our ship to help you. For everything that has happened, we will help you look for your husband.”

“He’s not dead. I know…”

The bright lights blended together as she sighed and fell asleep.

_Ronan…_

His eyes snapped open, blinded by three suns on the edge of the sanctuary. He opened his mouth and pulled in what breath he could. He roared with life as his veins stung with the feel of her. Ronan screamed in joy, fading quickly into pain as it hurt him to use his voice. His limbs were heavy as he tried to lift them to no anvil.

“He’s marked you, Kree.”

His first eyes was still swollen to the flickering old man chained and bloodied. There was a smile in his old face as Ronan watched him be dragged away by his heavy chains. The familiar large hand wrapped around Ronan’s throat as Thanos lifted his failed child from the ground. He closed it a faction, sending pain to every point of the Kree’s body.

“Welcome back, Kree. Shall we get started?”

Thanos closed his hand around Ronan’s throat, using all of his strength to snap his neck. Ronan’s hands fell to his side and... he blinked. There was no way for his journey to be over so soon. A tear fell from him as one bone, two bones snapped back into place. Pain filled his throat.

Thanos smiled to the Kree slowly clawing his hand as he came back to life. It would keep him alive longer and the more he killed Ronan, the easier it would be to bring him back to life. Ronan gasped as his neck healed back to the eay it was before. Thanos dropped him to the ground and chuckled.

Ronan was confused as he rolled coughing to his side. Thanos jerked him up by his hair and kneed him hard in the face. His scream of pain filled him with joy. He reached for his arm next and snapped it clean in two. A few more bones here and there and he had to stop to catch his breath. Thanos fixed his armor and sat on his throne, observing the Kree.

Ronan’s head spun in agony as did the rest of his body. What hurt worse was when his body snapped back into place. As his arm fixed, he could no longer take the pain. He passed out, leaving Thanos to comb through his most sadistic thoughts to the fun he would have with the Kree. He motioned his servants and watched as Ronan was carried away. He kept his focus to the way he would make the Kree scream and forgot about the woman and the baby.

-

Katja sat up straight as she laced her boots and fixed her pants. After a few weeks, her stomach snapped back but her fingers would always trace the stretch marks. She struggled to close her jacket.

“Don’t worry. Take this one. I used it after I lost my gal.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“No, my gal was my sis. It was hers.”

Katja pulled her long hair up into a a high bun and fastened her jacket a bit easier. It fit great across her chest and snapped to the belt of her waist. She pulled the knife and glanced to the long blade.

“Not much but it get the job done. Sorry those wankers can’t trust you with a gun.”

“The knife won’t miss.”

“We’ll see what your broker will think. He moved but he ain’t git too far to the other side of Xandar.”

“Hey, Pale Kree. He’s at it again.”

Katja rolled her eyes and ran down to the bunker that she was given. She slid down the ladder to the barracks as Peotrick’s cries were heard. She passed the other women that didn’t want to touch her child. They did, all missing the feel of a baby but they didn’t want to mess with the Kree.

“Who fucking touched him this time?”

Four women backed away from the baby and pointed to one another. Katja didn’t feel like dealing with them. She snapped her fingers and pointed to her bag on the other side of the room. One of them grabbed her bag and tossed to her. Katja reached into the bag frantically and pulled the folded tunic.

She stepped forward to her baby and leaned over so he could grab her. His tears streamed from his eyes as she could do nothing.

“Alright, fine.”

She shook the tunic loose and placed the unfolded mess in Peotrick’s arms. He turned his small face into the fabric and calmed his squealing. His small heaving breath stopped and he buried his nose deeper into the shirt.

“Amazing. How did that work?”

Katja stroked his head and kissed him goodbye for the time being.

“It was his father’s. That should keep him busy until I get back. I dare one of you fuckers to try and wash that tunic again.”

She didn’t trust but a few, Aleta and the women directly at her side to be near her child but hshe guessed babies of any species would have the same effect on women. Katja tightened her long brown and newly blue strands higher on her head.

“Ladies! Let’s go. Xandar awaits. Main group goes for supplies. Katja and the twins are with me. Once we touch down, meet back in an hour. We’re not staying.”

Katja held on to herpart of the seat as she stared across to the twins. She couldn’t remember what they were but their scaled olive skin were identical down to the scales and sliced eyes. They checked their weapons and all strapped themselves in as the smaller ship broke the atmosphere and cleared themselves with the Nova Corps airspace.

Katja closed her eyes and held on to her seatbelt and remembered tumbling through the clouds to Contraxia’s summer water back when there was no ice. She exhaled and forced the memory away. Her mind did find Ronan for a moment but she had to focus.

Ronan laid weak on his cell floor and watched through her eyes the putrid sunlight of Xandar. He had an idea of where she was going.

“Katja...”

He touched her cheek and made her turn back to the ship hull. Her face was still so beautiful. Her returned hair sat recolored on her head, so majestic.

“Ronan?”

Her voice disappeared under the roar of the engines as they moved closer to the ground. Her seatbelt snagged on her jacket, forcing her down as she saw his face for a moment. He arched his head up and kissed her before the recoil pulled her back.

She gasped with tears in her eyes as the feel of him returned. She covered her mouth and was ignored by the other female ship mates. She waited for Aleta and the twins as they started their journey into the city. Katja took in the faces of the city, so many different features and races passed her by. Aleta looked over her shoulder to a silver spiral pyramid that had grown from the ground. The arcitecture here was far more advanced than earth was.

They followed the longer pathway to blend in with the crowd, in case of witnesses; Aleta’s words. The closer they came to the pyramid, the deeper the pit in Katja’s stomach grew. She doubted herself for a moment but it was part of the deal to join the ship.

She could not stay on Contraxia and Aleta was a woman of her word. Katja was allowed to board the ship and join the crew, learning to fend for herself as well as finding out where to find her husband. She never told them his name but he heard his name on their lips when her back was turned. The first night, she locked herself in the ship’s library with Peotrick and learned about the monster she had married. Katja found it hard to sleep a few days after that but when she looked to her baby boy, she knew she had to find Ronan.

The women stopped and with everything she knew then, she didn’t know what she was going do once she saw Ronan again. Aleta opened the heavy doors and closed them behind her crew. She pressed a button on her gloves and jammed all of the exits to keep their guest still.

“Welcome...”

His voice dropped as he caught sight of the lady Ravagers and sighed. He didn’t have the best temperment with them.

“Aleta.”

“Sir Broker. You’ve gotten old.”

“And you are certainly an adjective I cannot use without knowing you’ll shoot me again. Is there anything I can help you with today?”

“No. Only looking.”

He turned for the twins.

“No,” they answered at the same time without a look in his direction.

The Broker rolled his eyes at Katja and returned to his desk.

“If this is a shakedown, then I suggest you leave. As I remember correctly, that was Yondu’s job. Oh, my condolences.”

“Thank you and as you mention his name, there is something you can do.”

“Oh?”

“Almost seven years ago there was a manifest that was supposed to come with cargo from Terra.”

“How can I possibly remember that far back?”

“Because,” sighed Aleta as she tossed the intact manifest to his counter for him to ignore, “You signed off on living cargo.”

he huffed his breath and kept his eyes downward.

“You cannot prove it. Even if it was that cargo is far gone.”

Aleta turned her eye up and nodded to Katja. She reached forward for the Broker’s tie and jerked him forward. His head slammed against his papers and startled him. Katja pulled him up and glared him in the eye.

“I was your cargo. You took me from my home, you bastard. I almost want you to make this difficult for me.”

“Please! Don’t hurt me.”

“Where was I supposed to go?”

“Knowhere! To the Collector, he didn’t have a Terrian for his collection. When I gave him news, he didn’t even care so I let the units go! I swear!”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” flinched the twins.

“Yeah but I say we do a little window shopping while we are here.”

“Oh? W-Would you like a trinket for your ship, Miss...”

“Katja,” she smiled as she jerked a pipe from the wall, “Katja Harding.”

She swung the pipe and smashed the display nearest her.

“No! What are you doing?”

“Lemonading. Because of all of you, don’t worry Taneleer will get his too, I was taken away from the only person that really loved me.”

The pipe sailed through the air again as tiny glass shards fell to the cheering twins feet.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know!”

“I became someone’s whore, almost died of hypothermia,” she smashed his tresures as well, “forced under Taneleer’s payrole, got caught in slavery, and taken away from my husband, leaving me as a fucking single mother!”

She didn’t stop until the only things unbroken where them. She heavied and smiled, glad that some of her frustrations were gone. Her hand opened to drop the pipe in the valley of broken glass. There was no pity for the Broker’s sobs as he looked around to his destroyed shop.

“Ladies, we’re done here.”

Aleta snapped her fingers and unlocked the doors, leaving behind the Broker and hoofing it so the Nova Troops wouldn’t catch them.

He inhaled and saw her. She was a woman on a mission.

“Katja...”

She stopped at the sound of his voice.

“Ronan?”

“Don’t find me. It is not safe.”

She closed her eyes and found herself in a rock cell. In the shadows, she knew Ronan was waiting.

“That’s your problem. We’re fine so thanks for asking.”

“A visitor?”

She turned to the golden hand that passed through her. She stumbled back and landed on her back on the ship. Ronan forced the connection to weaken so that Thanos could not toy with her.

“You think that will stop me? If I don’t find them, they will perish when the universe becomes mine...”

 


	13. Beacon

In the deep vacuum of space, Thanos could enjoy the luxury of rushing wind in his Sanctuary. He looked down to the wind from the sealed box being sucked out. Through the glass, he looked to Ronan and Nebula both suffocating. Ronan would come back but it would pain him to see another of his daughters go. He enjoyed testing the robustness of any chosen body modifications. Only in times of conferred punishments, he prayed that one of them would fail. Pain was everlasting; as was his conquests.

Nebula gasped as her slowed mechanics fought to keep her alive. Her first instinct was to find a weak spot or crease in the glass but she knew better. In the glass, she could see Ronan’s reflection as the glow of the tattoo on his throat prolonged his suffering yet again.

“Give me… your knife,” he strained.

She pressed a button hidden in her hand as a bit of metal shot from her ankle. Ronan grabbed it and waited until Thanos looked away in dissatisfaction.

“We are running out of time.”

“The damn box is his last stunt before death. You know this.”

He weakly winked to her.

“Just… be ready.”

“Ronan, here.”

She reached into her wiring. Ronan could feel something tickled down into his boot. His eyes looked to the sad smile of his comrade.

“What?”

“Tell Ga...my sister that I am sorry and I will see her again.”

“Thank you for your service...”

“Find them. Live”

Ronan used every bit of his strength to plunge the knife deep into his throat and slit himself enough to splatter his blood across the glass.

“No!”

Thanos jumped from his seat and landed next to the glass as Ronan’s eyes began to shut with a wink of defiance.

“Oh, really now?”

He drew his large purple fist back and broke the glass with a single strike. The hole he made was large enough to pull Ronan through but he was satisfied none the less as the Kree’s body slashed drastically from the shards.

Thanos dropped Ronan to the ground and let out his fury upon the Kree. He stomped his foot down on him, crushing and crunching Ronan so that he would feel everlasting agony until the next time he would get his hands dirty with dark blue blood. Nebula slipped through the hole, gasping for her life as the gears in her chest pushed air to the rest of her body. The pain that dulled distracted her as she was thrown back in the cell far across from Ronan’s. The slowing breaths led her to Korath as he tried to smile.

“My time is almost done.”

Nebula propped herself up as the rest of her was finishing repairs. She lifted his head from the cold stone floor and rested it on her lap.

“Go to sleep,” she whispered in a quiet whisper.

“No.”

“Just go to sleep, you pretty baby.”

She remembered Katja and wondered were she was; hopeful that she survived and was running as promised. Time had passed and there wasn’t as much left as she had wanted. She hummed the same words again and again as Korath’s fingers wrapped around her had. In the cell across the way, the pale golden man weakened the spell that was put on him so many year ago. His skin sagged back to where he remembered. He reached for the patch that had fallen from his eye and placed it back to keep it from getting infected. His fingertips pressed the edge of skin that used to hold his eye in place.

A sharp sense struck his spine as he turned to the bars of his cell.

“No.”

He knew what was awakening and the ferocious violence of what was about be unleashed.

Ronan tried not to fight the closure of his throat as the inside bones caught on one another. Thanos crouched down and felt the stuck bones. He knocked Ronan to his back and let everything slowly work itself out.

“Such a disappointment. If you had just given me the stone and taken the destruction of Xandar, I would have let you go eventually.”

He snapped his fingers and listened to the mixed sounds of lowering metal bars and agonizing snarls. He stepped to his throne where it or she had clawed at the stone ground.

“And you,” he hissed with a kick to her twisting ribs, “All I asked was the gift of that first bastard and I would have turned my eyes away from your conquest. Now, you look better like a snarling hound bitch that you are, under my every word.”

The thing turn itself up with what was last of her natural born form before it spiked and twisted with a harsh blackness.

“I will kill you!”

Her voice bellowed into a deep nightmare as she sprang forward into the monster Thanos was glad formed to his will.

“I know.”

He held up his large hand and stopped the creature in its’ tracks. It slowly but surely enough obeyed him, sitting and huffing. He turned to Ronan with only a smile.

“Did you think I wouldn’t forget them? I did for a moment but I would say that that was the last nerve to pluck, Kree. Just to live and let yourself die.”

Ronan’s eyes went for the creature as it licked at the glowing talons that slashed it’s softened paws. Thanos climbed his throne steps and grabbed the blue gem that awaited him. He rolled it between his fingers and horror made his eyes grow as its’ color came into view.

“I’m going to make her scream first. Then, I’ll keep her alive long enough to make her wish she was dead. There are other plans to make your child as one of my own.”

He lifted the stone and could feel its raw power blast from his palm, making a large enough portal as he made once before. Ronan was too terrified to notice the harsh repairing snap of his neck as he saw the side of a ship in the distance of the portal. He remembered the metal identical to ship that he saw over Katja’s shoulder when he kissed her.

“N-No...”

He did what he could to crawl forward, only to have Thanos stomp his foot down on his back.

“Let’s do something fun. A game of fetch so that you know what it means to be obedient? It’ll be easy for a simple creature to bring something back. Let’s see how many pieces it will take.”

The creature took a tremendous leap and sailed through the open air of space. Ronan saw it fly through the portal and land against the ship, rocking the larger vessel for a moment.

She hummed and was getting used to her continuous movements around the ship. For now, her hands were occupied with the map systems of the nearby quadrants and cleaning up Peotrick.

“Five jumps,” she wrote on her pad, “and just one more wipe,” she hummed over her baby.

She fastened his diaper and lifted him high into the air. Peotrick kicked his little blue feet and laughed down to his mother. Katja held him close and held him strong as she disabled the screen and hurried to the hold.

“Are we ready to go on an adventure?”

He called out to her with a giggle, agreeing. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and started through the halls.

“I know! We’re gonna have so much fun on Knowhere and Taneleer is just gonna wanna eat you up!”

She kissed and buried her face into her baby’s as his laughter grew for whomever was listening to smile at. Her feet carried her to the ship hanger. She hurried to one of the larger cargo stow ships no one bothered touching.

“Where’s Aleta?”

The twins smiled and she prayed she didn’t have to do another driving drill.

“We’re just doing some routine scouting.”

“Routine, my ass. I’m not ready to wrap jump again.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine. Come here, little naked.”

Maeo pulled Peotrick from her arms as she was pushed up the inclined ramp. She stomped her boots for a moment to dread the thought of flying another ship. She remembered how terrible of a driver she was on earth but ships were more freeing, she was told, more room to move than a flat surface. Katja tried to calm herself as she sat at the controls.

“Fine.”

Katja could feel herself sweating as she pressed the correct buttons to start up the ship’s engines. Three months and she was getting used to the controls of the ship. Katja felt she could sweat less once Posha kicked back.

“Do I hit the button now?”

“Do you?”

Katja looked over her shoulder to the stretching green smile of confidence.

“No?”

“Why?”

The sweat returned but she didn’t worry.

“Cargo doors!”

Her hand wrapped around a lever and jerked it down. Her ears picked up to growing thunder of bolting doors and whining metal on the ship.

“Shall we?”

“Sure. Just know that you all put me in this damn chair.”

Katja started the engines and moved her fingers naturally around the console. Her arms shook, feeling the ship roar under her. She eased the ship out of the bay hanger. She looked out through the ceiling glass to the pressurized barriers that passed over the sides of the ship.

“Nice and easy,” she whispered to herself.

“Meat! Punch it already!”

Posha pressed her foot on Katja’s and send them all into the void of space. Katja freaked out and slapped her driving companion away as her ears were filled with cackles.

“The hell was that?! This isn’t NASCAR! You’re all lucky I didn’t crash into shit.”

“Drive. Drive. Drive.”

Katja took the control and pressed her foot gently. She locked onto the vast ship’s coordinates behind them so she wouldn’t get lost as she raged forward. Her arms relaxed and she slumped comfortably in her seat to enjoy the smooth sailing.

“Ready?”

“Access point coming up. Ten klicks. How many jumps?”

“Just five and then eight days before we make Knowhere.”

“Alrighty then.”

The ship increased its speed and she input the number of jumps into the system’s computer. Posha reached on the other side of Katja and dug through the bag.

“Hey, hey! Get the hell out of there!”

“We need music!”

“Quit touching my things, lizard.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just kill me later...”

Katja kept her focus forward as her music began pouring over the loud speakers. Peotrick fussed as Katja looked over her shoulder a single time.

“Turn it down.”

“I’m sorry.”

The baby calmed once Maeo bounced him on her lap to the beat of the music.

“Who is _Annie_?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a song.”

“I hope she is okay.”

“It’s just a song! Three klicks.”

Katja reached for the screen but was thrown from her seat as the ship was hit. She scrambled up at the cry from her baby but Maeo held her hand up.

“I have him. He didn’t hit the floor.”

Katja tried to lift her arm, banged up from hitting the control panel.

“What the hell was that?”

Posha pushed her way to the panel and accessed what she could manage. A worried looked crossed her face as all of the receiving screens came up empty.

“Whatever it was, it knocked us off axis. We’ll have to go back a klick and try again. I’ll do it.”

Katja nodded and went back for Peotrick. The ship shook again but for a second as the red lights overhead flashed. The roar of one of the main engines stopped.

“Pressure is dropping,” said Maeo as she pushed Peotrick into Katja’s arms, “You know what to do. Don’t think. Just do. Now!”

Katja did her best not to panic as she stomped her foot against the wall and returned to the center of the deck. She forced her fingers to unclench from her baby as a wide pedestal rose from the floor and opened at the top to the insulated cradle that was for emergency purposes. Katja pressed her lips firmly to her baby head and quickly buckled him in. Peotrick’s fear began to build as he reached out and cried for Katja. She took another second to look at her baby before pressing her thumb to the side of the metal and sealing him away.

“Don’t worry. We’re going to be fine.”

His ventilated cries vanished under the sealing hisses that secured it. Katja heard a second growing hiss as she raced for the nearest blaster and placed her finger on the trigger.

“Circle up,” whispered Posha, “Send out a distress.”

Maeo was quick to lock down the door and radio out for help at the same time. Katja held her gun steady as a faint scraping was heard on the other side of the door. Posha tilted her head and glazed her eyes. Katja saw the change in her gun direction as she followed.

“What the hell is that?”

She was terrified to what Posha could see through the wall.

“A stowaway,” she growled.

Katja jumped as something dark broke through the metal and struck Maeo in the back. Over her own scream, Katja was able to hear the woman’s back snap. Dark blood specked the panel as Maeo tried to fight for her failing breath. Posha roared at the slumped body of her sister and blasted the hissing creature at the twisted door opening.

Katja fired her blaster as well, working her way to safely access the beckons for the main ship. She raised her voice over the blasts.

“Midday! Midday! Calling Mothership! This is _Sigil_ a half klick from the access point. Something made it on the ship. Do you copy?!”

Aleta rushed to the upper deck as her crew were fighting to reach Katja. She rushed past them all and clutched the radio.

“Katja! Where is your position?”

“Midday! Som- Help!”

“Dammit!”

Katja’s voice scattered in and out of the weakening signal.

“Lock onto them now!”

“There!”

Aleta saw the ship rocking back and forth as it slipped into a closing access point.

“Full throttle, now. Arm the first wave!”

Aleta took ahold of the controls and steered the ship in the distressed’s path. She yelled in frustration as the wisps of the access point closed and rocked the side of the ship. Aleta didn’t stay stationary for long.

“I want those points now!”

Her crew were already ahead of her as they scrambled to reactivate the portal to get to Katja.

Thanos snarled as he closed the portal.

“Damn. I didn’t expect them to slip through to the top of the galaxy.”

Ronan wasn’t sure to feel relieved or worried. Thanos dropped him to the ground and let him be carried off as he stared into the void where the portal was opened from. He mused his next course of action, exhausted from the excitement of seeing something of his succeed. He wasn’t about to count his victory so early but he was sure that his creature would return with the fresh blood of the woman and her bastard. He walked off to rest himself, readying the next step in his plan.

“Looks like we’re going to the top of the universe...”

Ronan was able to control his breath but his racing heart was a different story. He saw the ship and the creature that leapt to its surface. His wasn’t sure about his son but his wife was on the ship. There was no doubt as the connection pushed a bit of his pain away. The guards holding his arms stopped him and struck at his sides. Ronan tried to fight them off but he was no match for the mighty boots of Thanos’ soldiers.

The old man sat next to the cell doors and listened to the Kree beaten again just for the sport. He was about to force his hearing away until something hit the ground. He turned his good eye and saw a necklace under the metal bars. He was quick to snatch it away before the opening door crushed his hand. The guards laughed at Ronan, ignoring the old man as they always had and slammed the cell door shut behind them. Once the mocking and stomp of rogue boots disappeared, he opened his hand and studied the silver chain. Hanging on a single minuscule metal claw was a dark gem.

“That isn’t yours, old man.”

He smiled from hearing the woman’s voice for the first time.

“What was your race, child?”

“I don’t remember. Give it back.”

“If I do, then we will be locked away for the rest of how ever long the Mad Titan wishes to keep us alive and this poor soul has a further purpose.”

“You’re rescuing yourself.”

“I have only seen myself and him. I am not sure why not you.”

“That would mean my plan worked.”

Nebula pressed her face to the bars to try and make out the old man.

“Quite. The spectacle will be one I cannot wait to see. Your sacrifice shall lead you and your lover straight to Valhalla. Something good in the past life of pain you didn’t deserve.”

Her eyes found a soft golden glow that radiated from both of his palms as he cradled the piece of jewelry between his hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling for help...”

Through the glow, the dark gem shown. Nebula didn’t feel shameful that she smiled as her eyes stayed glued to the gem. One day, she would see her sister again. All of the fighting and slaughtering would vanish.

Her eyes flew open as her impossible dream shook her. She gasped for air as she pulled on her clothes, not answering the man slowly waking from his own dream.

“Gamora. What the hell?”

“We need to turn this ship. Now!”

She left the quarters behind her and ran as fast as her modifications let her. She jumped railings and climbed the tall hangers until she stumbled onto the main deck.

“Kraglin!”

There was no one on the deck, she pulled the old necklace from her pocket and waited.

“Come on. Come on.”

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as the gem as dark as her sister’s eyes glowed in her green hand. She couldn’t explain how or why she caught a glimpse of Nebula’s content face. She blinked and unwillingly knew the quickest way back to the Sanctuary.

“Gamora!”

She turned to Peter running down the railing to try and meet her.

“I’m sorry.”

She grabbed the knife at her belt and flung it to the control panel on the main doors. The doors thundered shut. Peter crashed into the hard metal and pounded his fists on the doors. Gamora was quick to disable the rest of the entrances to the main bridge. There was no time to try and reason with anyone. Better off to just lock in the coordinates that were burned into her head. Her fingers placed viruses that would keep the ship on course no matter how much Rocket toyed with the systems. If they got away, the systems would go back to normal.

Gamora got in the captain’s seat and plugged in the coordinates, fighting her laboring breath as her green shaking hands wrapped around the main controls of the third quadrant.

Katja was scared but her fingers never left the surface of her trigger. She felt different as her perception squared her aim and kept the creature at bay. It hissed and clawed a larger hole in the doors, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She could feel the Kree blood in her boil, to need to slaughter it before it reached them.

A quick blinding flash filled the deck. The large ship steered up and jerked eildly from side to side. Everything not mounted or tied down tumbled freely around any open space.

“Hold on to the cradle,” screamed Posha.

Her scaly fingers dug into the floor grids. Katja wrapped a hand around the strong railing. Posha holstered her weapon as the ship’s nose turned up and sailed without direction. She strapped herself into the main seat, taking back the controls.

Katja kept one arm locked surely to the cradle and her other hard on the gun. Her blood ran cold from the sight of the creature’s dark claw slipping back through. The twisted thing tore its’ way through the destroyed doors. Posha looked over her shoulder and watched as Maeo’s lifeless body crash into the creature, hindering it and knocking it back down. Tears welled in her eyes but she forced them back forward to the raging gateway around them. In the distance, she could see a dark opening. The wisping blackened portal roared and she was able to feel the death of it in the rumbling ship. Her foot slammed down.

The accelerating shift made Katja’s body thunder to the ground. The gun slipped from her hand and all she could think to do was to cling to the cradle’s railing. The creature disappeared for the briefest moment.

“What do we do,” screamed Katja.

Both women turned to the creature’s snarl. It held Maeo in its’ grip and hurled her against the farthest wall. Posha slammed her palm against the thrusters’ ignition.

“Hold on, Kree!”

Posha’s scaled hands turned the ship every which way to throw the creature off its’ balance. The roaring and the screaming stung her ears but the commotion dulled at the golden sight flooding from the front windows. Tall, majestic buildings spanned out in every direction.

“Midday! This is the Sigil! We have taken a hit and there is a hostile stowaway on board!”

Posha shrieked in pain as a bit of the creature struck at her side.

“No!”

She turned to Katja as she tried to let go of the railing, screaming possibly at the sight of her heavily bleeding side. The alien turned back to the dashboard and jerked the single level under the console. Katja met her team member’s eyes of smiling sadness. She remembered her faint smile.

“Eyes to the East. I am sorry.”

Katja didn’t see the ground quickly coming into view through the front screens or the creature finding its balance, ready to leap for Posha. She was pressed to the cradle as the fading outer protective shell covered her and the detaching machinery. All winced at the top of the ship open, ejecting Katja and the baby out into the open air. Katja cried out, in grief and terror as she and the baby’s cradle fell to the edge of the golden city. Her vision spun out of control from the smoke and the glimmering objects that mixed along with it. Her only thought was to hold on.

The wind was knocked from her as the cradle crashed hard into the grassy hills. She was quick to swing her right hand to the other side of the cradle and protect it as the force bounced them into dirt and grains. Her head banged against the metal, leaving her grip to weaken on the railing. The protective shell kept her pressed to the metal as it slowly rolled down to the bottom of the hill.

The cradle almost turned into the great sea ahead of it but with Katja’s weight to hold it in place, the metal rocked back and settled back into the murky shoreline.

There was quiet in the early morning as he had let his illusions go to rejuvenate himself. Many years of using magic for days and weeks on end was tiring but he found ways to further his abilites for the sake of his own duty to the throne. With his brother on the other side of the universe and the living heir to his throne in his place in Hell, he would carry his illusion for as long as he was taught.

He inhaled the smell of the Sea on the edge of the planet to the start of another day in the Eternal Realm. Another breath and the side of his head felt as if a sharp needle had pierced him. Screams shot his ears as he winced in pain. Screams and voices that refused to stop.

“ _Midday! This is the Sigil! We have taken a hit and there is a hostile stowaway on board!”_

He waved his hand to dull the voices to a bearable tone as another, dark tone took its place. The festeringly sweet feminine voice matched that of the death that he knew would follow her.

“ _B-Brother...”_

“No!”

He focused the strength of his powers and gasped as he took back control of his mind. He was scared for a moment, remembering the darkness of the Mad Titan but he was sure that his schemes and his trickery had kept his whereabouts safe. He took his normal form as his chamber doors thundered open.

“All-Father,” bowed one of the guards, “There has been a disturbance to the West of the city. A ship has crashed.”

He turned for the view in his chambers and saw the trail of smoke from the edge of the hills. A bit of movement caught his eyes as boats rushed for the ship.

“What is that there? On the edge of the water.”

Many saw the rolling metal that stopped just short of the shore. He followed the chaos and the many boots of his guards as soon they made their way to the wrecks.

“Go to the shore. Find what you can.”

He rode in the best armor that was used many times for battle. He would need it for whatever waited at the tall column of smoke. A large ship towered over all of them. He raised his hand and petrified the ship so none of any surviving inhabitants would attack. He followed the trail of shredded metal and dead drying blood.

A set of glowing eyes stopped him as a bit of fear struck his veins. He straightened himself and snapped his fingers. Enchanted chains and a slumbering spell subdued the creature for the time being until his guards could take it away to the dungeons.

“Take the bodies and burn them. Collect their remains.”

“Yes, sir. Survivors were found at the shore.”

“Survivors?”

“Yes, They are waiting.”

The exited the putrid ship and rode to the shore where the guards were trying to pull the still woman away from the large metal container.

“Move aside.”

He calmed the smile that threatened to turn wicked as he looked to the woman that clung to the metal. With the wave of his hand, the covering dropped and so did she. Only one of her hands was still wrapped to the railing as he admired her. Her dark and colored hair mixed together to the wet dirt. He reached for her arm, stopped as the glowing ink lit all the way up to the accords.

“She is Kree,” he mused, “but what was she guarding?”

He waved his hand again, opening to the wailing of the small child inside. He didn’t think, reaching forward to the baby.

Ronan’s eye flew open, for once not blinded by darkness. He didn’t look to the sea of shining metal or the fresh surroundings. The only thing he saw was the reflected image of the man he shared his cell with. His eyes glowed in fury as he saw through the illusion for a moment to a favored of Thanos’ disappointing failures.

“Jotunn!”

Loki held his hand up to the glowing eye that he thought he would never see again. The woman’s body stopped mid-air thundered to his chest as he caught her.

Ronan roared in fury as he kicked the darkness he returned to. He huffed and growled with anger.

“My son.”

Ronan’s head snapped up to the old man as he focused his powers on the necklace from Ronan’s boot.

“You have met the thing that used to be my son. He was son to another and another disappointment still.”

“I know of him.”

“She will survive until we arrive.”

“Arrive?”

Odin looked up to Ronan, dulling his senses as the Kree slowly drifted off into sleep.

“Dream of her, Kree. She will need your strength for what is ahead.”

Odin tried not to get sick at the coming images of the horror of the child he had tried his best to raise. He built the strength of his magic and prayed that they would be reached in time.

Loki walked into the healing room and watched as the healer assessed to the woman and the baby.

“Well?”

One healer broke away from the group to the king.

“My King, her accords are healing her quickly but her body is exhausted.”

“And the child?”

“Only a few months of age. The cradle kept him safe. He’s sleeping now.”

“Keep a wet nurse next to him. The Kree woman is without her male and the thing on that ship can wipe us all out without the proper cage.”

“What of her?”

He rubbed his chin, wanting to be alone to think but there was something else.

“I will need to ponder this. Finish with her.”

The rest of the healers carried on as he turned to leave. He rushed from his illusion, invisible to the rest of the room as one by one, the room was left bare. Loki sealed the room shut and looked over every inch of her skin. His eyes stayed glued to the glowing rings around her finger.

He chuckled.

“I didn’t know the Accuser had a weakness for flesh but the weak surface of your skin wreaks of Midgard, doesn’t it? The double accords are only for widowed Kree. Are you hiding?”

His fingers smoothed back on her dirty hair. His other hand rested at her stomach as he marveled at her deathly beauty. He leaned down to her, hovered just over her lips. The accords burned his skin but he would bear the pain so he could touch her.

“What secrets do you have, wench?”

He kissed her, taking the pain that jolted his veins. Loki could feel the painful twinge in his chest as he deepened a second kiss and pulled away.

“Interesting...”

His eyes stayed on her lips until they moved up her face. Loki moved back once the voices in his head started to return. They disappeared for a moment until her skin hued to that of a natural Kree. Her hands glowed sharply to her powers, bringing back the voices of the countless innocent souls he’d slaughtered. He did what he could to fight her accusation but it was no use.

Her dark eyes flew open.

Katja shot up, cradling her head as it stung with voices. She remembered the same thing happening the first time Taneleer found her and his workers were about to kill him. The voice was subtle but now they were a storm of screams. Her mouth opened and all she could do was cry to make them go away. Slowly, they did once she heard her baby.

“Peo… Ah!”

She took a single step off the table and crashed to the floor once her legs went weak. She groaned and quickly pulled herself together. Her body braced against the wall as she scooped up her baby boy and slowly rocked him against her chest. He started to calm as she forced herself to stay awake.

“It’s okay. It’s...”

Katja tried not to cry as she remembered the events of what happened in the ship. Her teary eyes filled caught the room around her; perfect stone and glimmering woven designs.

“My dear.”

Her head snapped up to the aged man at the start of the room. She clutched Peotrick to her chest as he walked closer to her.

“Where am I?”

Loki liked the firm tone of her voice.

“There was an incident. Your ship crashed but you weren’t in it. You are Kree?”

Katja wasn’t sure how he knew until she saw the edge of her hand.

“Sure. We weren’t supposed to be here. Our ship was attacked,” she stopped, remembering Posha, “There was someone else with me!”

“I’m afraid you and your offspring were the only survivors. I am sorry.”

“Can I see their bodies?”

“I had them burned.”

Katja had too big a lump in her throat to thank the man.

“I need to get in contact with the rest of my crew.”

“We are an isolated realm. It is not within our purpose to reach out to the cosmos unless necessary.”

There was something in his smile that didn’t sit right with her.

“You aren’t going to let me leave?”

“I would rather you rest for a few days. You took quite the damage and are lucky for your lineage that keep you alive. I must insist that you wait.”

Katja could feel her body hurt and knew he was right. Only a few days and she would go to Xandar or Knowhere and track down Aleta for help.

“Fine. Thank you.”

She didn’t give any acknowledgment to the strong women that were rushed to her side. Her hands slayed clutched to Peotrick as she was helped to her feet. Katja kept herself alert, not letting her baby out of her sight for a second.


End file.
